Influence can do more than capture attention. It can challenge assumptions, bring people together, and inspire meaningful change.
At the Shorty Impact Awards, we celebrate the people and organizations using their platforms to make a difference. From humanizing homelessness through documentary storytelling to creating space for conversations across divides, this year’s honorees show how digital media can entertain, educate, and move culture forward.
Join us in celebrating the 2026 Creators of the Year, a group of storytellers, entertainers, and changemakers redefining what influence can achieve.
About the Curator
This year’s list was curated by The Real Time Academy led by Jeff Barrett, Chief Evangelist at the Shorty Awards, Chair of Partnerships for the Creators Guild of America, and a Shorty Award winner. Recently, Jeff served as a Creator Ambassador for Dhar Mann at Advertising Week and advocated in D.C. alongside the Congressional Creators Caucus. He has led creator programs for Adobe and hosts It’s No Fluke, a podcast with 465+ episodes reaching over 100,000 industry leaders through our newsletter.
Hannah Stocking x Adam W
Comedy Duo of the Year
Comedy has a way of making everyday experiences feel universal. Hannah Stocking and Adam W have each built massive audiences by turning familiar situations into distinctive, highly shareable entertainment.
With more than 74 million followers and nearly 2 billion lifetime YouTube views, Stocking has established herself as a leading creator, actress, and comedian. A repeat honoree on Forbes’ Top Creators list in 2025 and 2026, she combines sharp humor with storytelling that resonates across audiences. Her work spans viral sketches, major entertainment productions, brand partnerships, and new formats, including her leading role in Playback, a musical microdrama created for vertical video.
Adam W has become a global force in short-form comedy, with more than 69 million followers and over 28 billion views across platforms in the past two years. Known for transforming everyday scenarios into cinematic spectacles, he has rapidly expanded his reach through YouTube Shorts, live performances, and collaborations with major brands. His recognition includes Forbes’ Top Creators list in 2025 and 2026 and Snapchat’s inaugural Snappy Award for Spotlight MVP.
Together, Stocking and Adam W represent the evolving reach of digital comedy, where distinctive creative voices can build global audiences and move seamlessly across social platforms, entertainment, and culture.
Spy Ninjas
Storyteller of the Year
Photo credit: Spy Ninjas Entertainment
Chad Wild Clay and Vy Qwaint have spent more than a decade building an entertainment universe that invites audiences to become part of the story. As co-founders of Spy Ninjas, Chad serves as Chief Creative Officer, while Vy leads the company as CEO.
Since launching their flagship franchise in 2018, the creative partners have grown Spy Ninjas into a serialized family entertainment phenomenon, with more than 47 million subscribers and 18 billion lifetime views. Its blend of mysteries, challenges, pranks, and high-energy storytelling transforms viewers from passive spectators into participants in an ongoing adventure.
The duo launched Spy Ninjas Entertainment earlier this year as they continue to expand the Spy Ninjas universe well beyond YouTube, including into publishing, consumer products, gaming, and Spy Ninjas HQ, a 50,000-square-foot entertainment destination that opened in Las Vegas in 2024. Beyond entertainment, Chad supports organizations including Make-A-Wish Foundation and The Wishing Star Foundation, while Vy advocates for greater diversity in digital media and the next generation of creators.
Together, they demonstrate how creator-led storytelling can grow into a lasting entertainment franchise, building communities that follow a story wherever it goes.
Jubilee Media
Studio of the Year
Jubilee Media has built a digital-first media brand around a simple but powerful idea: provoking real human conversation. Under the leadership of Founder and CEO Jason Y. Lee, the company has become one of the most recognizable media brands among Gen Z, generating more than 380 million monthly views across platforms.
Through flagship series including Middle Ground, Surrounded, Odd One Out, and Versus, Jubilee brings people with different perspectives into direct dialogue on the issues shaping culture. Its format-driven storytelling invites audiences to reconsider assumptions, engage with opposing viewpoints, and find common ground.
With the launch of Nectar, a sister channel and mobile app focused on love and dating, Jubilee continues to explore new ways to make human connection the center of digital entertainment. Its work proves that content can do more than reflect cultural conversations. It can create the conditions for them to happen.
Owen Han
Culinary Creator of the Year
Known to millions as the internet’s “Sandwich King,” Owen Han has turned an everyday meal into a platform for creativity, culture, and connection. The cookbook author and food content creator is known for his viral sandwich videos, which combine approachable techniques with bold, globally inspired flavors.
Drawing on his Italian and Chinese heritage, Han brings together culinary traditions in ways that invite audiences to experiment in their own kitchens. His cookbook, Stacked: The Art of the Perfect Sandwich, extends that approach beyond social media, encouraging home cooks to see familiar ingredients and everyday recipes in new ways.
Han’s success shows how food content can bring people together across cultures, turning a universal experience into an opportunity for discovery and creative expression.
Jenna Bandy
Sports Creator of the Year Category
Jenna Bandy brings together sports, entertainment, and social impact. A Guinness World Record holder and creator with more than 5 million followers across platforms, Bandy has built a multifaceted career spanning sports, fashion, lifestyle, and hosting, partnering with some of the world’s most recognizable brands along the way.
Beyond her work as a creator, Bandy founded Game ChangeHER, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering young people and building their confidence through its signature program, Mind Labs. By combining her passion for sports with a commitment to the next generation, she is helping young people discover their potential and build the confidence to pursue it.
Bandy’s work shows how creators can extend their influence beyond entertainment, using their platforms and personal passions to open doors and create opportunities for others.
Invisible People
Humanitarian Creator of the Year
Mark Horvath knows firsthand how powerful a story can be. As someone who has experienced homelessness himself, he has turned his personal experience into a lifelong commitment to changing how the world sees homelessness.
Through Invisible People, the nonprofit he founded and leads as CEO, Horvath uses video storytelling, social media, and journalism to humanize people experiencing homelessness and challenge the misconceptions surrounding it. Reaching more than 20 million people monthly, Invisible People brings overlooked stories into public view, builds empathy, and encourages audiences to take action toward meaningful solutions.
Horvath’s work demonstrates how storytelling can do more than raise awareness. It can change the conversation around an issue and help move people toward change.
Jon Youshaei
Creator Advocate of the Year
One of few creators to work inside both YouTube and Instagram, Jon Youshaei has been featured in Business Insider, Time, and TED as the "Oprah of YouTube" for his interviews with MrBeast, Kris Jenner, Mark Rober, Kevin Hart, and more.
Now a full-time creator with 1M followers, Youshaei has one of YouTube's most popular podcasts and documentary series where he goes behind-the-scenes with top creators and celebrities with his docuseries with MrBeast that won a Guinness World Record and earned over 55M views.
Most recently, Youshaei spearheaded a new event called Created in LA presented by Disney to debut videos from creators for the first-time ever in the 100-year-history of the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Across his content and events, he has empowered creators to grow their audiences, build businesses, and better understand the industry shaping their careers.
This year’s honorees reflect the many forms impact can take. It can mean making an overlooked issue impossible to ignore, creating space for difficult conversations, inspiring curiosity through food, building stories that audiences grow up with, or bringing people together through laughter.
Their work reminds us that influence is not defined by reach alone, but by what creators do with it. At the Shorty Impact Awards, we celebrate the people and organizations proving that creativity can entertain, connect, and inspire change.
