CIS Awards

Applications OpenEdition 2026

CIS Digital Awards

The CIS Digital Awards is the premier independent recognition programme for digital marketing, advertising and digital communications professionals operating across the Commonwealth of Independent States. Founded to establish transparent, merit-based benchmarks for excellence in the CIS region, the awards celebrate the teams, campaigns and strategies that are reshaping how businesses connect with audiences in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan and beyond.

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Winners to date

Expert jurors

Award stages

From open submission to public results announcement — every stage has a defined start and close date.

1Active now
Applications Open
1 Mar — 31 May
2
Applications Close
1 Jun — 1 Jun
3
Jury Review
2 Jun — 31 Jul
4
Winners Announced
15 Sept — 15 Sept

— About the award

Why this award matters

The CIS digital market has undergone rapid transformation over the past decade. With internet penetration exceeding 85% in Russia and Kazakhstan, mobile-first consumption becoming the norm, and social commerce revenues growing at double-digit rates across the region, the demand for sophisticated digital marketing has never been higher. Kaspi, Wildberries and Aviasales have become global showcases of CIS digital innovation, while multinational brands invest heavily in localised digital strategies for the region's 280 million consumers.

Participating in the CIS Digital Awards provides immediate credibility with procurement teams, media agencies and brand headquarters across the region. Winning an award signals to regional and international partners that your work meets the standards of independent, expert evaluation — not internal shortlists or paid placements. The jury draws from CMOs and digital directors at leading regional and multinational companies, ensuring that evaluation reflects genuine market recognition.

— Who should enter

Who should enter

The award is built for professionals ready to present their work to an independent jury in a format the CIS market can judge clearly and fairly.

Digital and marketing leaders

CMOs, digital directors, heads of growth and brand managers who run campaigns and digital strategies at scale.

Agencies and delivery teams

Full-cycle agencies, specialist boutiques and in-house teams that can demonstrate measurable campaign outcomes.

Product and technology teams

Product managers, UX/UI designers and technology teams whose work has a measurable impact on user outcomes and business KPIs.

— What recognition gives you

What recognition gives you

A CIS award is not a badge. It is a public record of independent expert validation — and the market acts on that signal.

Regional market credibility

Winners appear in a public, indexable record of quality. Enterprise buyers, media partners and investors in the CIS region use the platform as a shortlist reference.

Tangible business outcomes

Winning an award has measurable impact on trust signals: website conversion uplift, inbound partnership enquiries and procurement shortlisting.

Talent and hiring signal

Teams use award recognition in employer branding, hiring pipelines and international expansion conversations.

Independent validation

Unlike internal nominations or paid placements, CIS Awards evaluation is done by an independent jury of regional senior practitioners — not by the award organiser.

— How submissions are evaluated

How submissions are evaluated

The jury evaluates every entry against transparent criteria. There is no self-nomination, no commercial bias and no predetermined outcome.

Result over assertion

Submissions are assessed on measurable outcomes: campaign data, revenue impact, user metrics and business KPIs. Judges look for evidence, not claims.

Context over scale

A well-executed campaign for a local market is evaluated alongside global-scale work. Context matters: judges are briefed on the CIS market conditions at the time.

Quality over budget

Spending more does not score higher. The evaluation framework rewards strategic thinking, creative execution and measurable efficiency — not the size of the media buy.

Independence over commercial visibility

Commercial relationships with the award organiser do not influence scoring. Jury members with conflicts of interest are recused from relevant categories.

Jury deliberations are confidential. Individual scores are not published. The outcome reflects collective professional consensus.

— What makes a strong submission

What makes a strong submission

CIS Digital Awards

Lead with the result

Start with the business outcome: revenue impact, efficiency gain, user growth or measurable brand metric. Judges read hundreds of entries — lead with what matters.

Show the context

Describe the challenge, the market conditions and the constraints. A great result without context is impossible to evaluate fairly.

Document the methodology

Include your measurement framework, attribution logic and the data sources used. Judges want to understand how results were achieved, not just that they were achieved.

Be specific about your role

Agency entries should make clear what the agency was responsible for versus the client. Individual entries should specify the team and the decision-making context.

Generic submissions that list services or make broad brand claims without evidence will not advance to final judging. Completeness matters.

— Winners

Recent winners

Independent recognition from a regional expert jury — not a self-nominated panel, not a paid placement.

See all winners

Winners to be announced

Results for this edition are not yet published. Follow the award timeline for the announcement date.

— Jury

Meet the jury

Senior practitioners from across the CIS region — CMOs, digital directors, product leads and technology leaders who evaluate every entry independently.

See all jury members

Aida Nurmagambetova

Chief Marketing Officer

TechKZ

15+ years of digital marketing leadership across Central Asia. Former CMO of Kaspi.kz.

Dmitry Volkov

CTO

Yandex Cloud

Leading cloud infrastructure development for CIS markets. Expert in AI/ML systems.

— Categories

Choose your competition

Each category has a specific evaluation brief. Choose based on what your case can demonstrate, not where it fits most conveniently.

View all categories

IndividualFree

Best CMO of the Year

Award for a Chief Marketing Officer who drove measurable brand and business outcomes through digital channels across the CIS. CMO of the Year is one of the most competitive individual categories, recognising strategic vision applied at scale — not budgets spent, but outcomes delivered. Judges look for evidence of customer acquisition efficiency, brand equity improvement and cross-channel integration.

Agency & Team$99

Best Full-Cycle Digital Agency

Award for an agency demonstrating excellence across the full spectrum of digital services — from strategy and creative through to performance marketing, data analytics and technology implementation. Full-cycle capability is the mark of a mature digital practice, and judges look for evidence of client retention, campaign ROI and integrated thinking across channels. Agencies competing in this category should demonstrate breadth without sacrificing depth.

Product & Project$99

Best UX/UI Design

Award for user experience and interface design that demonstrably improved user outcomes — not just visual polish. Entries are evaluated on research-driven design decisions, accessibility, usability metrics and measurable impact on business KPIs. Judges expect evidence: session recordings, usability test results, before/after conversion data, and support ticket reduction. Beautiful is not enough; it must also work.

Agency & Team$99

Best Content Strategy

Award for a content strategy that delivered sustained audience growth, genuine engagement and measurable business impact. Winning entries demonstrate editorial excellence, distribution intelligence and content that earns audience trust in competitive CIS markets. Judges look for SEO performance, content ROI, audience growth trajectory and editorial process maturity.

Product & Project$99

Best Mobile Application

Award for a mobile application that combines technical excellence with genuine user value. Judged on App Store and Google Play performance benchmarks, user retention and ratings, feature innovation and engagement depth. Entries must demonstrate measurable metrics: DAU/MAU ratios, retention curves, crash-free session rates and user review sentiment trends. Technical ambition is welcome, but it must serve a real user need in CIS markets.

IndividualFree

Best Performance Marketing Specialist

Award for a performance marketing specialist or team whose campaigns delivered outstanding ROAS, CPA or efficiency metrics at meaningful scale. Entries should demonstrate data-driven optimisation, audience targeting sophistication and media budget accountability. Judges expect campaign documentation, attribution methodology and proof of scale — not just impressive-looking numbers.

Product & Project$99

Best Digital Advertising Campaign

Award for a digital advertising campaign that combined creative excellence with measurable business results across CIS markets. Judged on creative quality, media efficiency, brand-building effectiveness and strategic integration across channels. Winning entries show the full loop: from insight through creative development, media deployment, measurement framework and business outcome — not just a pretty video.

Agency & TeamFree

Best SMM Project

Award for a social media marketing project that built genuine community, drove measurable engagement and delivered business outcomes. Winning entries demonstrate content excellence, community management sophistication and platform-native strategy adapted to CIS audience behaviour. Judges look for follower growth alongside engagement quality — not inflated vanity metrics from purchased followers.

Product & Project$99

Best E-commerce Growth Strategy

Award for a strategy that delivered sustainable growth in online sales and e-commerce unit economics. Judged on GMV and revenue growth, CAC reduction or LTV improvement, customer retention metrics and funnel efficiency. Winning entries demonstrate analytical rigour in diagnosing what drives growth — not just the headline growth number.

Agency & Team$99

Best Influencer / Creator Campaign

Award for a creator-led campaign that demonstrated transparent and measurable business outcomes. Judged on creator relevance and selection quality, creative production value, conversion attribution and return on creator investment. In CIS markets, where creator culture varies dramatically from Russia to Kazakhstan, the ability to work authentically across these audiences is itself a differentiator.

Product & Project$99

Best Marketing Automation Implementation

Award for a structured marketing automation rollout that improved communication efficiency and profitability. Judged on segmentation quality, personalisation depth, conversion uplift and reduction of manual operations. Entries should include measurable before/after metrics — improvements in open rates, conversion rates, customer lifetime value and operational efficiency.

Product & Project$99

Best Digital Brand Experience

Award for a cohesive digital brand experience across web, app and customer journey communications. Judged on unified visual language, UX consistency, emotional resonance and brand business impact. In markets where brand trust is earned through digital consistency — particularly in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan — this category recognises the brands doing it right.

CIS Digital Awards

— Ready to enter?

Ready to enter?

Choose the route that fits your situation. Each path has a different timeline and evidence requirement.

Applications close when the submission window ends — late entries are not accommodated.

Enter as a participant

Choose your category, prepare your case and submit before the deadline. Standard submission window applies.

Apply now

Join as a jury expert

Senior practitioners with active market experience are invited to apply for jury positions. Expertise, not title, is the criterion.

Apply to join jury

Not sure which route fits?

Send a brief description of your case and we will help route you to the right programme and category.

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