Awin Takes Five Golds at GPMAs as Tenth Edition Rewards Incrementality

Awin carried five gold awards out of this year's Global Performance Marketing Awards, the most by a single network on the night and the clearest signal of where the judges now place value: tracking fixes, influencer enablement and ecosystem measurement. Rakuten Advertising followed with three golds. The awards, now in their tenth year, are run by Hello Partner and sponsored by Partnerize — a sponsored arrangement readers should weigh when reading any single winner's press release afterward.

The tally matters less than the terms behind it. None of the winning case studies published cookie windows, fee structures or attribution windows, and the organizers released no entry counts beyond calling 2026 submissions a record. Treat every performance claim below as a judge's verdict on submitted materials, not an independently audited result.

What did Awin actually win for?

Four of the five golds map to concrete operational changes:

• Partnership of the Year — a three-party partnership that solved a specific tracking problem and, per the entry, produced a method reusable across the wider Awin network. No figures on affected volume or advertiser count were disclosed.
• Innovative Technology or Platform — Awin's mobile app, positioned as lowering barriers to entry for influencers, which implies a play for creator-side CPA and hybrid deals where app-based tracking beats cookie-based last-click.
• Best Influencer & Social Performance Strategy — the ManoMano programme, built to convert creators' performance potential. The submission named no EPC or conversion data.
• Partnership Ecosystem — unifying platforms and improving trust and measurement across the network.

The pattern is consistent. Awin is betting that affiliate infrastructure — tracking portability, app measurement, cross-network trust — wins recognition before campaign creative does. Affiliates on rev-share deals should note the emphasis on measurement beyond last click; that shift can move which partner gets credited in multi-touch chains.

Rakuten Advertising's three golds

Rakuten Advertising won Travel, Leisure & Experience Campaign, Measurement & Incrementality, and Transparency & Compliance. The cited entries: an Emirates partnership the company says reversed a multi-year decline, an H&M strategy built as an incrementality-led global affiliate model, and a compliance framework judges called a new standard.

"Reversed multi-year decline" is a vendor framing. The organizers did not publish baseline revenue, time window or sample size for the Emirates result, so affiliates cannot verify whether the turnaround reflects programme changes or market recovery. The incrementality claim for H&M matters more for the sector: if incrementality-led models spread, CPL and last-click CPA deals will face tougher renegotiation.

Who broke through for the first time?

New entrants placed in the top three, and two won outright: CRDB Bank Plc took a top-three place with "Bank Your Way," and Ruby Digital won first place for SEO and PPC work with retailer Gelmar. Neither entry's metrics were published.

The 2026 edition also debuted a Regional Grand Prix across APAC, EMEA and the Americas. impact.com won APAC, Performics won the Americas, Silverbean took EMEA, and Publicis Media won the Global category. For agencies weighing regional specialization against global reach, this is the first year the GPMAs offers that split as evidence — one data point, not a trend.

What did the organizers say?

Charlotte Coyle, Senior Awards Manager and architect of the GPMAs, said: "This has been a standout year for entries. We've seen industry heavyweights defend their titles, incredible entries from GPMA newbies and a concerted effort to raise the bar in the industry."

She added: "What really stood out to me this year was the quality of the entries and the rate at which the industry has transformed. From creative campaigns that broke out of the box to game-changing solutions and next-level partnerships, in our 10th year, our winners show that the next chapter of the industry is in good hands."

Hello Partner's Founder and CEO Matthew Wood thanked sponsor Partnerize and the 2026 judging panel, which reviewed entries across agency and influencer categories.

The judges' own read carries the sharpest implication for practitioners: submissions demonstrated value beyond the last click — what the organizers call the industry challenge of the moment. Expect winning programmes to push incrementality clauses into 2026 partner terms; Hello Partner says a detailed breakdown of Awin's winning entries will follow.