Movies have the Oscars, TV has the Emmys, music has the Grammys, so why can’t one of the world’s largest social platforms get into the awards game?
Instagram, the Meta-owned photo and video platform, is launching Instagram Rings, a new program meant to celebrate the creativity of its more than three billion monthly active users.
But of those three billion users, only 25 will receive Rings, with the honorees getting both a physical ring designed by the acclaimed English fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner, as well as a unique digital golden ring for their Instagram profile and stories.
“We felt that it was time to have an award that recognizes people who take these creative chances on our platform,” says Eva Chen, the head of fashion partnerships at Instagram, who helped conceptualize the awards program. “These people are cultural catalysts, and they’re sparking conversations, and by doing that, they encourage people to express themselves as well.”
The Instagram Ring
Chen, Wales Bonner and Instagram head Adam Mosseri will be among the judges for Rings, joined by experts like director Spike Lee, rugby star Ilona Maher, makeup artist Pat McGrath, designer Marc Jacobs, actress Yara Shahidi, the artist KAWS and others.
Chen says that the judges worked with Instagram’s own creator teams to winnow down the list from billions to millions to thousands to hundreds, before they settled on their 25 winners.
“Instagram is a community of three billion people, and those three billion people probably reflect a billion different interests, so the criteria was really tough,” Chen says. “I’m saying this as a judge, seeing the huge list of nominees, and being able to cull it down just to 25, it was a challenge, and I know that, like the other judges, it was too many great people to choose from. But really, we were looking for people who take creative chances and who are always pushing the envelope and thinking about new ways to talk to their audience.”
The winners will span content topics and categories, from fashion or makeup to sports and entertainment, allowing for a wide array of honorees across interest groups, reflecting the larger Instagram community.
“I think that one of the most magical things about Instagram is that it shows every moment of someone’s journey,” Chen says. “For something like this Rings program, we’re rewarding and awarding these creators who have opened up their lives and opened up their art and their vision across all the different surfaces of Instagram.”
Chen notes that when she first started at the company it was just a feed, and the platform now has Reels, its shortform video product, broadcast channels, stories, Threads and live videos.
“So when we’re looking at these creators, these are multifaceted creators who can tell stories in so many different ways, which is, I think, something really magical about the Instagram creator, it’s someone who can talk to people in so many different ways,” she says. “They’re multilingual when it comes to communicating with their followers.”
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the Instagram Rings program is what the 25 winners will receive. They will get the physical ring in a presentation box, which Chen, Mosseri and Wales Bonner developed, but they will also get something even more unusual: customization for their Instagram profiles.
If you use Instagram you know that the ring around your stories is typically an orange-red-pink gradient (or green if it is to your close friends), but Rings winners will see their stories surrounded by a unique golden ring. They will also get the ability to customize the background color of their Instagram profile, an ability that will be unique to them, and their content will be featured in their own spotlight and feed within the app.
The gold ring for Instagram Ring winners.
“We’re doing something that we haven’t really ever done before, which is give these winners the ability to personalize their profile page,” Chen says.
But awards matter most when they last. The Academy Awards were first handed out nearly 100 years ago; the Emmys more than 75 years ago; and the Grammys handed out their first gold gramophone in 1959. Instagram is hoping that its Rings program is just the first of what will be a long run of honoring its creative community.
“Feedback is a gift, as we often say here at Meta, and we’d love to see how it’s received and how the winners enjoy the literal Instagram spotlight,” Chen says. “It took a long time for this program to come together, it’s the culmination of years of wanting to do something like it and being able to execute it, both product-wise and getting this panel of luminaries together to be judges.”
“They will have to get through this first one first, it’s been a very long time in the making, but we’d love to continue to recognize and celebrate the artists and voices on Instagram,” she adds. “It’s so important now for creators to take creative chances and to continue to hone their craft and feed themselves on this ever growing platform. So I think that the hope is for us to be able to do this for years to come, and every year, just keep on kind of upping the ante in terms of creativity and spotlights.”
