Information

The Boomerang Awards: INTERPLAY

Digital Innovation has evolved and is no longer about mastering a single platform, channel, or technology. More than ever, it has become the interplay between disciplines. Between people and systems; between entertainment and commerce; between creators and communities; between physical and virtual worlds. Today’s most powerful ideas live fluidly across ecosystems, behaviors, and experiences.

This is the age of INTERPLAY.

The Boomerang Awards 2026 recognizes this new reality through a revamped and reimagined awards structure built around how modern creativity truly works in the context of our industry.

From Digital Experience and Media, to Entertainment, Craft, and Specializations, the categories reflect a world where ideas are no longer confined to “traditional” definitions. A livestream can become retail. A game can become community infrastructure. A creator can become media. A platform can become culture. An awards show can be a celebration, and a true representation of where the industry should be headed.

INTERPLAY represents the ever-evolving and dynamic exchange between the forces of creativity, technology, culture, data, storytelling, utility, and human behavior: the very elements behind ideas that travel, return, and create lasting impact — much like a boomerang, itself.

As the Boomerang Awards expands its reach across SEA, Boomerangs 2026 celebrates the most powerful work from brands, creators, agencies, technologists, platforms, publishers, and communities shaping and continuously re-shaping the future of digital innovation in the region.

What’s New in 2026
Presenting: The Digital Innovation Playground for Southeast Asia

The Boomerang Awards enters a bold new era this year, evolving beyond its roots as the Philippines’ premier digital innovation awards show into a more expansive regional stage. Recognizing that today’s most innovative ideas are no longer confined by borders, virtual or real — the Boomerangs now aims to better reflect the increasingly regional nature of digital innovation in creativity, technology, platforms, commerce, and entertainment by expanding to cover territories across Southeast Asia.

To further support this evolution, the awards introduces expanded categories and jury groups, and a longer eligibility period of two years, creating a more inclusive, representative platform for the many forms and timelines digital innovation realistically takes.

These changes reinforce the Boomerangs’ ambition to become the definitive awards platform representing the future of Digital Innovation in Southeast Asia.

Special Awards

• Digital Innovators of the Year
• Production Partner of the Year
• Advertiser of the Year
• Agency of the Year
• Best of Show

Judging Criteria

Innovation

A new way of thinking in the use of digital that transforms a brand, business, organization, or market. Beyond being first, it recognizes ingenuity that creates meaningful, sustainable, breakthrough, or disruptive change.

Creativity

The power of ideas to connect with people in original, engaging, and culturally relevant ways. It celebrates bold thinking, craft, storytelling, and execution that elevate digital experiences beyond convention.

Impact

The measurable influence of the work on audiences, brands, businesses, communities, or culture. This includes effectiveness, engagement, behavior change, business growth, social value, or lasting cultural relevance.

Judging

The Boomerang Awards Jury is composed of some of the brightest, most experienced, and most seasoned leaders across the creative, marketing, media, technology, innovation, entertainment, commerce, and digital industries. Jurors include Chief Creative Officers, Creative Directors, CEOs, senior marketers, strategists, clients, media leaders, specialists, and category experts invited from across Southeast Asia and the broader APAC region — ensuring a diverse, world-class perspective reflective of the region’s evolving digital landscape.

The jury will be divided into five dedicated jury groups, corresponding to the five main award disciplines of the Boomerang Awards 2026. Each group will be led by an appointed Jury President, selected for their expertise and leadership within their respective fields.

Entries will be evaluated based on the Boomerang Awards’ three core judging criteria:

• Innovation
• Creativity
• Impact

Judging will take place in two phases. The first phase is the online Shortlisting Round, where jurors independently review and score entries confidentially and individually. There will be no separate set of online jurors — the same set of jury groups will see and evaluate the same set of work from start to finish. This is to ensure fairness, consistency, and strict adherence to the high standards expected throughout the judging process.

The highest-scoring shortlisted entries will advance to the second phase: the Metals Round. During the Metals Round, jury groups will convene to collectively deliberate and determine the final shortlist, as well as the Bronze, Silver, and Gold winners within their assigned categories.

Following the category deliberations, all Jury Presidents will convene to determine the Best of Show award. This highest honor will be selected from the pool of Gold-winning entries across all categories, recognizing the work that best represents the pinnacle of digital innovation, creativity, and impact for the year.

BEFORE ENTERING, TAKE NOTE

• The Boomerang Awards are open to DMAP and non-DMAP member organizations.
• Entries from both Philippine-based and SEA- based (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan) are accepted.
• Campaigns created for the SEA audience are eligible for submission.
• Only campaigns that ran within the two-year eligibility period (May 1, 2024 to June 30, 2026) will be qualified.
• In cases where the same campaign is submitted by two different entrants under the same category: both entries will be accepted as separate and independent submissions, provided that the case boards, case videos, and write-ups are entirely different.
• Changing of categories after submission will not be permitted.
• Please create a thumbnail image to represent your entry. You may use a screenshot of your entry as the thumbnail. Do not use your company logo. Make sure the image clearly represents the content or highlight of your submission.
• The submitted entries may be used by the Boomerang Awards and/or DMAP for any purpose, including but not limited to: promotions, Awards database, and public communications and showcases.
• Any entry that has won at least a bronze in the past 2 years is no longer eligible for entering in the current awards cycle.
• Digital Innovators of the Year Award
  There will be a separate Digital Innovator Award for each of the five (5) main categories.
  To ensure proper recognition, entrants are requested to carefully check the individual Credits in the entry portal. Only individuals named in the Credits section will be considered for the Digital Innovator Awards.
  The Boomerang Awards Committee reserves the right to verify the information provided and determine eligibility for the award.

ENTRY SUBMISSION

1. INFORMATION

• Entrant Company / Client / Advertiser
• Contact Person and Designation of Entrant Company / Client / Advertiser
• Categories Entered

2. CASE STUDY WRITE-UP

• The write-up must describe the challenge and objectives, the solution, and the results in not more than 450 words. This will be used as the reference of the jury if there is any unclear information in the case presentation slide.

3. CASE PRESENTATION SLIDE

• The case presentation slide is the primary basis for judging the entry. The case must be summarized in a single slide. File must be a PDF or high-resolution JPEG exported from Powerpoint of Keynote. The slide is for easy review of the jurors.

4. CASE VIDEO (Optional)

• Submission of a case video is optional. It can be up two (2) minutes long, using the mp4 format. Case videos may only mention the clients. They must not include the names of any agency, production house, or media partner. Case videos must use English subtitles for Filipino dialogue, in consideration of international jurors.

5. CERTIFICATION LETTER

• Provide a letter in PDF format from the company for whom the campaign, product, or service was created. A letter is still needed if the entrant is the advertiser.
• As long as the letter states that the results indicated in the case presentation slide are accurate, there is no need to re-state the results in the actual letter. The letter should be signed by one of the most senior officers (VP Marketing / Chief Marketing Officer / Marketing Director / Marketing Manager, or higher). An e-signature is accepted. The letter must state the name of the client representative with his/her contact details including the email address.
• Download the Certification Letter here.
• Booms Site: booms.dmap.com.ph

Important Reminders

1. New Entry Submission Portal - This year, entries will be submitted through a new portal—The One Club for Creativity platform. Please make sure to carefully read the submission guidelines and relevant information provided on the platform to help you navigate the process smoothly.
2. Please review the definition and requirements for the category before you submit your entry. Should you enter the wrong category, the organizers and the jury will not re-categorize your entry. Once it is submitted, you are not entitled to a refund.
3. When submitting a case video, please do not include hashtags or any special characters in the case study video file name.
4. Entering one case study across different categories? Kindly use ONE TITLE for the different categories so we can easily track for the overall awards and consolidate the points.

USAGE

1. If your case entry contains sensitive data, please mark “Not for public release” and include a sanitized case write up and presentation for DMAP’s use. If you submit a case video with sensitive information, please include an additional 15-sec edit that is safe for public consumption.
2. Unless otherwise noted, the entrants grant permission to the Boomerang Awards to use submitted case presentation slides, write-ups, and videos for publicity and educational purposes.
3. If you want to provide supporting evidence such as ads, videos, or otherwise, please just include the URL. For entries that will provide hardware during the judging, kindly indicate in the write-up the URL that the jurors and committee can visit in order to experience and inspect the technology used in the entry.
4. Remember, the jury must experience how it was intended by the user.

Fees and Payments

PAYMENTS

Pay by Online Transfer or Over-the-Counter Bank Deposit
Bank Name / Branch: Union Bank of the Philippines
Vito Cruz Branch
Account Name: Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines, Inc.
Current Account Number: 000310033329

Pay by Credit Card
After submitting your entry, please email awards@dmap.com.ph to get the payment link. We add a 4% surcharge to payments by credit card, to cover fees charged by your card-issuing bank.

PAYMENT CONFIRMATION
To confirm your payment, kindly send the proof of payment (POP) to awards@dmap.com.ph - scanned copy of the deposit slip (if over-the-counter), an e-receipt / reference code (if via online transfer), or an email confirmation from PayMongo (if credit card).

REFUNDS

In all circumstances, refunds will NOT be accepted once entries have been submitted.

Disqualified entries are not exempted.

Important Dates

• Open to Accepting Entries June 15, 2026
• Early Bird Submission Deadline July 15, 2026
• Regular Submission Deadline August 15, 2026
• Late Submission Deadline August 31, 2026
• Awards Night October 16, 2026