Chennai: The Advertising Club Madras celebrated excellence in advertising, media and digital communications at the 44th edition of the MADDYS Awards 2026, recognising outstanding creative work from across India. Held under the theme “KISS – Keep it Simple, Silly,” the awards honoured campaigns that demonstrated simplicity, originality and impactful storytelling.
The awards attracted entries from more than 110 agencies and clients from India and overseas. Following a rigorous two-stage evaluation led by six jury chairs and 23 industry experts, the organisers presented 157 awards, including three Grand Prix, 26 Gold, 44 Silver, 69 Bronze, and 15 special honours.
Among the evening’s biggest winners, Be Positive 24 Innovation Design was named Creative Agency of the Year and also won the Agency of the Year – Print and Design Craft, while Digitally Inspired Media won both Digital Agency of the Year and Media Agency of the Year. Happy Unicorn Creative Communications secured the Regional Pride (Tamil) Agency of the Year title and was also recognised as Film & Audio Craft Specialist of the Year.
On the client side, The Ramco Cements Limited was named Creative Client of the Year, The Hindu Group won Digital Client of the Year, and JioStar India emerged as Media Client of the Year as well as Regional Pride (Tamil) Client of the Year.
The event also honoured individual creative excellence. Haridas Balakrishnan Nair was named Blue Noodles Copywriter of the Year, while Gokul Raj and Haridas Balakrishnan Nair jointly received the C. P. Sajith Art Directors of the Year award. In the Regional Pride (Tamil) category, Selvakumar V was recognised as Art Director of the Year, and Arabbhi Athreya received the Copywriter of the Year honour.
Ahead of the awards ceremony, delegates attended a panel discussion titled “Have We Forgotten How to KISS?”, featuring MADDYS 2026 jury chairs Agnello Dias and Rajesh Ramaswamy (Ramsam), alongside last year’s jury chair Senthil Kumar. The session was moderated by Gokul Krishnamoorthy, Jury Convenor and Process Auditor.
Commenting on this year’s awards, Surej Salim, President, Advertising Club Madras, said, “MADDYS has always been about one thing—celebrating ideas on their merit. This year, we witnessed work from independent creative boutiques standing shoulder to shoulder with the country’s largest agency networks, proving once again that great ideas can come from anywhere. Congratulations to every winner, finalist and participant for raising the bar and making this one of our strongest editions yet.”
Kavitha Srinivasan, Secretary, Advertising Club Madras, added, “MADDYS 2026 has been a celebration of creativity, craftsmanship and collaboration. We thank our Jury Chairs, jurors, partners, sponsors and every participating agency and client for making this edition a memorable one. Congratulations to all the winners, and we look forward to welcoming the industry back for an even bigger MADDYS 2027.”
The Advertising Club Madras concluded the event by thanking its sponsors, partners, jury members, participating agencies and clients for contributing to the success of the 44th edition of the MADDYS Awards
