Adobe MAX 2026 Creativity Awards: listed here are the classes and the best way to submit.

Submissions at the moment are open for the third annual Adobe MAX Creativity Awards — Adobe’s annual celebration of the artistic group, constructed to honor the world’s most progressive people and groups creating essentially the most inspiring and impactful work created utilizing Adobe instruments.

Project submissions are reviewed by a panel of Adobe judges. Winners obtain an all-expenses paid journey to MAX 2026 — overlaying a MAX move, airfare and lodge lodging. Winning submissions shall be shared at MAX and throughout Adobe platforms.

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This 12 months, awards shall be given within the classes of Design, Image Making, Motion, Photography, and Video, with every class break up between two award ranges: a Creative Pro Projects Award for submissions by skilled creators, together with each shopper/industrial work and, and a Young Creator Projects Award for private, self-initiated work — eligible on for these aged 18–22 on the time of the work.

Let’s take a more in-depth have a look at the classes and what our judges wish to see:

Design

Submit your most progressive branding, structure, and packaging design initiatives. We’re on the lookout for daring, strategic design work that pushes artistic boundaries whereas fixing real-world challenges. Whether for print, digital, or past, we’re honoring design work that’s each visually beautiful and well executed.

Design submissions shall be judged on artistic idea and originality; visible influence and aesthetic execution; scalability and flexibility; model storytelling and cohesion; and performance and value.

Here are some questions to contemplate when selecting design initiatives to submit:

• Does the design provide a contemporary perspective, distinctive fashion, or conceptual depth?
• How effectively does the design interact by typography, shade, hierarchy, and composition?
• How successfully does the design scale throughout completely different platforms and purposes?
• How effectively does the design reinforce the identification and values of the model or undertaking?
• Does the design successfully talk its supposed message and serve its function?

Last 12 months’s 2025 Design honorees included Maria Vioque Niguyen co-founder of HONDO, whose workforce reimagined the model identification for legendary Italian furnishings maker “Castil”; Moh Febri Adiawarja, founding father of WOBL Creative who created the playful, daring “Forketto” pasta model, and Estrella Gracia of Gusta whose “Cruda” editorial undertaking lived as much as its identify by celebrating the rawness of photographs in an period of pixel-perfect retouching.

Image Making

Submit your greatest digital portray, illustration, 3D, blended media, and composites. This class acknowledges artists who push artistic limits and categorical their imaginative and prescient by fantastically crafted, extremely imaginative imagery. It’s the place idea, approach and storytelling meet.

Adobe judges shall be on the lookout for artistic idea and originality; technical execution and craftmanship; narrative and emotion; use of Adobe instruments and methods; and composition and visible influence.

Here are some questions to contemplate when selecting a undertaking to submit:

• Does the picture provide a contemporary perspective, distinctive fashion, or conceptual depth?
• How effectively are digital portray, compositing, 3D modeling, or blended media methods utilized?
• Does the picture inform a compelling story or evoke a robust emotional response?
• How successfully are Adobe’s digital portray, compositing, 3D, or generative instruments utilized?
• Does the picture display robust composition, shade use, and focal steadiness

Last 12 months we honored picture maker Hugo Cuellar for “The Lost Keepers of Flannan Isles”, animation and packaging illustration for Fable Whisky, filmmaker and artistic director Thomas Dubois for “Keshiki : Echoes of Colorado”, and Young Creator Clément Berneron for “Melcos in Metropolis”, an illustrated fresco that reimagines New York.

Motion

We’re on the lookout for work that’s daring, rhythmic, experimental, or narratively wealthy, created for any platform, format, or viewers. This class spotlights the artists and animators who deliver concepts to life by motion, expression, and dynamic storytelling.

Motion submissions shall be judged on emotional influence and artistic intent; technical execution and animation high quality; use of movement design components and ideas; pacing, stream, and use of time; and use of Adobe instruments and innovation.

Here are some questions to contemplate when selecting initiatives to submit:

• How successfully does the movement work evoke feeling, temper, or environment?
• Are animation ideas comparable to timing, weight, and motion utilized successfully?
• How successfully are typography, shapes, graphics, character animation, and transitions used to boost storytelling?
• Does the animation use time successfully to information the viewer’s expertise?
• How successfully are Adobe movement and animation instruments leveraged to boost the ultimate product?

Last 12 months, we honored New Zealand-based mixed-media director and designer Mardo El-Noor for McDonald’s “Make It Click!” road-safety marketing campaign; movement designer Abraham Egbobawaye for his collection of animation experiments, “Noodlz”; and Young Creator Anastasia Rykova, a VisDev and 3D artist, for “The Tale of Two Cruel Rulers”, a 3D animated quick movie.

Photography

Whether staged or spontaneous, daring or intimate, we’re on the lookout for work that turns commentary into unforgettable imagery. Photography submissions shall be judged on composition and framing; lighting and publicity; authenticity and perspective; storytelling and emotional influence; and technical execution and post-processing.

Here are some questions that can assist you resolve what undertaking to submit:

• How thoughtfully are framing, perspective, and spatial relationships used to assist the topic or message of the picture?
• How successfully is pure or synthetic gentle used to boost temper and readability?
• Does the picture showcase a contemporary, distinctive perspective or visible fashion?
• Does the picture convey a message, evoke emotion or seize a novel second?
• Are retouching, shade grading and enhancing methods used successfully?

Our 2025 Photography honorees included Berlin-based freelance photographer and artwork director Maria Louceiro for her collection, “Music in Berlin”; Izaskun Valmaseda, self-taught visible artist, for her self-portrait, An Act of Becoming; and Young Creator Beatriz Simas, an artist and graduate artwork historical past pupil in Toronto, for “The First Supper 1995/ The First Supper 2024”.

Video

Whether narrative, documentary, industrial, or experimental, we’re on the lookout for work that mixes considerate storytelling, compelling visuals, and intentional pacing to create an emotional or thought-provoking expertise. This class is for filmmakers, administrators, and creatives who deliver compelling tales to life by the ability of video.

Judges will have a look at narrative energy and emotional influence; cinematography and visible composition; enhancing and pacing; sound and music integration; artwork course and design consistency; and video codecs and platform adaptability:

Here are some issues to contemplate as you select initiatives to submit:

• Does the video inform a compelling and interesting story?
• How effectively are framing, lighting, and visible aesthetics used to boost storytelling?
• Are the cuts, transitions, and rhythm efficient in sustaining engagement and driving the story?
• How effectively does the sound design, voiceover, or music improve the storytelling?
• Is the video’s general aesthetic, shade palette, set design, and styling cohesive and intentional?
• How effectively does the video translate throughout completely different platforms and facet ratios?

Last 12 months’s Video honorees included London-based cinematographer Saul Knight for “Field Trip”; Howard William Mitsakos, filmmaker and artistic director for “Spin Cycle”; and Young Creator Unai Candela, a filmmaker, environmentalist, and anthropology pupil, for “Alone in Greenland”.

Start your submission for MAX 2026.