IndieHQ Awards

IndieHQ Awards is judged by working indie creatives, strategists, and editors. If that’s you, we’d love to have you on the jury.

The commitment is real but manageable: 6–8 hours of remote judging during the assigned week, on your own schedule. All entries are anonymized to your rubric; every juror recuses themselves from any category with a conflict of interest.

First — the one eligibility check

Do you work at an independent agency, in-house at a brand, or run your own shop / freelance? *

IndieHQ Awards is judged by the indie world for the indie world — that’s the one rule.

Yes — I’m at an indie shop, in-house at a brand, or running my own thing.No — I’m not at an indie shop.

About you

First name*Last name*Email*PhoneOptional. Only used if we need to reach you urgently during judging week.Agency / companyRole or titleLinkedIn URLShown on your public Meet the Jury card. Optional but nice — helps entrants see who's judging.

Which show(s) do you want to judge?

You can apply for one or multiple. We approve per show, so picking both doubles your chances.

Classic 20272027

IHQ Awards Classic 2027 — the work. Creative, campaigns, the craft. Call for entries opens February 2027, with judging in May and Top 40 Week in June. Applications to judge are open now.

People + Agencies 20262026

People + Agencies is the show that honors the humans and shops behind another banner indie year. Founders who bet on themselves. Strategists who kept clients honest. Creatives whose work moved culture. Operators who kept the lights on when the numbers didn't. Teams that built something worth being part of. And the shops that made all of it possible. Every December, 40 names hit the livestream during Top 40 Week — five days of reveals in front of the whole indie community. A Hall of Fame class gets a bigger honor: induction, celebrated live in NYC. Put yourself, your team or your shop in the running.

Availability notesAny scheduling constraints, weeks you can't do, time-zone considerations.

For the Meet the Jury page

If approved, you’ll appear on our public jury roster. Fill these in now or we’ll follow up later. Optional on submit — required before the roster goes live.

Bio1–2 short paragraphs, third person. What you'd want indies to know about you.Headshot URLDirect link to an image (Dropbox / Google Drive share link, LinkedIn photo URL, agency site — whatever works). Don't have one handy? Skip it — we'll follow up if you're approved.

Two quick ones

How did you hear about this?Have you judged for IndieHQ Awards or a past Indie Agency News awards program before?Counts: IndieHQ Awards, Top 40: Classic, Top 40: Design, WMU, or any prior IAN-run show.Yes, I’ve judged for one of these before.

We’ll review and get back to you. Approved judges get a welcome email with a sign-in link to your judges dashboard.

Judge the work

First — the one eligibility check

About you

Which show(s) do you want to judge?

Your credentials

Voice + calibration

For the Meet the Jury page

Two quick ones