AI MEDIA AWARD 2026
SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN
The submission deadline for projects is July 31, 2026
The finalists’ showcase and the official award ceremony will take place on
October, 2026 | THE HALL | 8600 Dübendorf | Switzerland
Press Release | October 20, 2025
AI Media Award 2025: Six creative visionaries honored
Yoni Attlan, Yanina de Sapio, Mark Wachholz, Nishtha Shailajan, Jose Alvarez, and Dika Karan are shaping the new creative age with AI. The six winners of the first international AI Media Award 2025 were honored on Friday at the Swiss Influence Award in Dübendorf. The award-winning films are now available online at www.ai-media-award.com.
Their innovative short films set new standards: their works impressively demonstrate how artificial intelligence enables new forms of creative storytelling, aesthetics, and production—beyond traditional tools and boundaries. Over 300 submissions from around the world competed for the inaugural international AI Media Award, a competition dedicated to the artistic use of AI. The 15-member jury honored six entries in the categories of animation, advertising, narration, art, fashion, and music video, and awarded the special prize for “Best Swiss Entry” to Yanina de Sapio.
The award sees itself as a stage for a new creative movement: artists and creatives use AI not as a substitute, but as a partner to visualize ideas, model emotions, and tell stories beyond previous boundaries.
“The award-winning works show that we are at the beginning of a new language – a language between humans and machines,” says co-initiator Andrea Riege, founding member of the AI Media Agency. “The AI Media Award aims to make this new beginning visible.”
A digital window into the future
The award-winning films are now available online at www.ai-media-award.com. The award and the publication of the winning works open a digital window into the next era of creative expression. An era in which technological innovation and human imagination go hand in hand.
The winners
Swiss creator Yanina de Sapio won in the AI Advertising category with Ocean Mirror, a fictional commercial about ocean pollution. Through haunting imagery, she reveals how deeply human civilization is intertwined with the marine ecosystem. The 25-year-old studies Content Creation and Online Marketing at the SAE Institute Zurich and sees AI as a creative tool that opens up new production pathways.
German screenwriter Mark Wachholz received the award in the AI Narration category for The Cinema That Never Was. The film is a homage to all the works that were never realized — an essayistic reflection on the invisible history of cinema. With over twenty years of experience as a screenwriter, Wachholz views AI as an instrument that makes hidden narrative spaces visible.
Indian artist Nishtha Shailajan was honored in the AI Art category for Peach — an experimental video piece using the peach as a metaphor for the human body. Her sensitive exploration of control, desire, and vulnerability reflects societal power structures through aesthetic condensation.
In the AI Fashion category, Jose Alvarez from the United Kingdom won with The Fashion Icon Sending Shockwaves. The film portrays the fictional fashion designer Lucien Verdeux III — half human, half reptile — as a symbol of artistic obsession and style consciousness. After an accident, Alvarez found his way back to art through AI, combining craftsmanship with emotional intensity.
The AI Music Clip award went to Dika Karan from Indonesia for Echoes of Me. The visually arresting short film portrays a young woman who falls silent amid the digital overload of her time. A self-taught artist with a passion for emotional visuality, Karan uses AI to condense loneliness, identity, and hope into poetic imagery.
The interdisciplinary jury
The entries were evaluated independently by a 15-member international jury. Each juror assessed the works individually according to criteria such as creativity, technical implementation, originality, and emotional impact. To ensure objectivity and equal opportunity, the entries were evaluated anonymously—without any information about the authors’ names, gender, age, or origin. This allowed all projects to be judged solely on their creative and artistic quality.
The jury consisted of 15 experts from the fields of creative industries, media, technology, and education. Members included Julia Anklam (Fashion Stylist), Chris Beyeler (President, KImpact – Swiss Association for Artificial Intelligence), Roland Brack (Founder of brack.ch), Pasquale de Sapio (Founder & CEO, AMA AI Media Agency), Fabian Frauenfelder (CEO & Owner, Hangar Group GmbH), Thomas Frei (Director, SAE Institute Switzerland), Cyrill Hauser (Managing Partner, Jung von Matt LIMMAT), Tobias M. Huber (Director of Operations, Storybook Studios), Nolan Michaels (YouTube AI Educator, FutureTechPilot), Fabian Plüss (CEO & Co-Founder, Swiss Influencer Award AG), Andrea Riege (AI Fashion Content Creator, AMA AI Media Agency), Björn Schaeffner (Journalist & Curator, ClubCultureCH), Barnaby Skinner (Deputy Editor-in-Chief, NZZ – Neue Zürcher Zeitung), Cihan Ünür (YouTube AI Educator, CyberJungle), and Caleb Ward (Co-Founder, Curious Refuge).
The AI Media Award was organized as part of the SSIA Swiss Influence Award in collaboration with the AI Media Agency, with the SAE Institute serving as the main sponsor.
The submission deadline for the AI Media Award 2026 is July 31, 2026.
Contact for inquiries:
Andrea Riege, email: contact@ai-media-award.com