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AWARDS
ENTRIES OPEN
Honoring the CMOs and marketing executives driving growth at mid-sized brands
Ad Age Mid Size Brand Leaders recognizes senior marketers delivering measurable results at mid-sized companies—where teams are lean, budgets are tight and every decision has outsized impact. This honor spotlights CMOs, VPs and senior marketing leaders at brands with approximately $50 million to $1 billion in annual gross revenue.
Key dates
Entries open: Monday, April 6, 2026
Final deadline: Monday, June 1, 2026 at 5 p.m. ET
Honorees announced: September 2026
Questions? Visit our FAQs and important information sections. If your question isn't answered, contact awards@adage.com.
WHY ENTER
All honorees receive:
- A feature profile published on AdAge.com
- Membership in The List by Ad Age, a year-round leadership community for honorees across select Ad Age programs
- A complimentary ticket to the Ad Age Business of Brands event in September 2026 in Chicago
- Opportunities to contribute to Ad Age editorial coverage exploring leadership, innovation and industry change
- Recognition across Ad Age editorial and event platforms, reaching leaders across brands, agencies, media companies and technology companies
All honorees are handpicked by the editorial staff at Ad Age. Winners will be notified in July and profiled in a feature honoring the 2026 class of Mid Size Brand Leaders to be released in September.
DETAILS
Ad Age Mid Size Brand Leaders recognizes senior in-house marketers driving measurable growth at mid-market brands—companies with approximately $50 million to $1 billion in annual revenue.
Who should be nominated
Senior marketers working in-house at brands or brand-led businesses with approximately $50 million to $1 billion in annual gross revenue (USD or USD-equivalent) are eligible. Entries outside this range may be considered at the judges’ discretion if the brand operates at a comparable scale.
Eligible roles include CMO, VP of marketing, head of marketing, chief growth officer or equivalent senior titles. We also recognize leaders responsible for marketing strategy and growth, regardless of formal title—including founders or executives who directly oversee go-to-market efforts. Nominees must have driven meaningful brand or business impact between Jan. 1 2025 and April 30, 2026.
Agency executives and independent consultants are not eligible.
Pricing & deadline
Pricing:
$425 per entry
Final deadline:
June 1, 2026, at 5 p.m. ET
Please pay strict attention to all the entry requirements as fees are non-refundable once entries are submitted.
Questions? Contact awards@adage.com.
WHAT THE ENTRY FORM REQUIRES
The entry form asks for details about the nominee’s role, leadership and measurable business impact over the past 16 months (between Jan. 1 2025 and April 30, 2026), along with supporting context about their career and work.
- Current role and scope: What the nominee does today and what they oversee or are responsible for, including business unit, team, budget or revenue scope and level of decision-making authority
- Leadership impact and results: How the nominee leads within their organization, key initiatives or priorities over the past 16 months and the business or brand outcomes driven under their leadership
- Key results: Up to three (3) metrics demonstrating performance and impact, such as revenue growth, market share, customer acquisition or retention
- Career background: A brief summary of the nominee’s career path, including previous roles, companies or key milestones
- Signature initiative: One example of a specific initiative led by the nominee, including the goal, their role and measurable results
- Supporting materials: Links or uploads that provide additional context, such as case studies, campaign examples or creative work
- Quote from the nominee: One quote that may be published as submitted
FAQs
Eligible roles include CMO, VP of marketing, head of marketing, chief growth officer or equivalent senior titles. We will also recognize leaders responsible for marketing strategy and growth, regardless of formal title—including founders or executives who directly oversee go-to-market efforts.Nominees must have driven meaningful brand or business impact between Jan. 1 2025 and April 30, 2026.
Agency executives and independent consultants are not eligible.
No team entries will be accepted. If you have more than one candidate, please submit them as a separate entry.
- Current role and scope
- Leadership impact and results
- Key results
- Career background
- Signature initiative
- Supporting materials
- One quote from the nominee
Requests to remove or alter submitted information during or after judging may result in disqualification.
There will be no deadline extensions.
Please contact awards@adage.com if you experience any issues submitting payment.
If there is a factual error, please contact the awards team to request a correction. Changes cannot be made once the final deadline has passed and judging has begun.
Requests to remove or alter submitted information may result in disqualification.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Entry accuracy and publication
All information submitted must be accurate and publishable by the time the honorees are announced.
Anything included in an entry—including results, descriptions of work or supporting details—may be published by Ad Age. Do not submit information you do not have permission to share publicly.
Entries that contain fabricated work, ghost campaigns, inflated or misleading metrics, inaccurate financials or other misleading information may be subject to disqualification. Ad Age reserves the right to request verification of submitted information at any point in the review process.
Ad Age reserves the right to verify submitted information and to withdraw or revoke recognition if an entry is later found to contain inaccurate or misleading information.
Entry requirements
Please review all entry requirements carefully before submitting. All entry fees are non-refundable once entries are submitted.
We encourage entrants to thoughtfully consider team members from diverse backgrounds and the contributions they have made when preparing nominations.
AI disclosure
Entrants are required to disclose whether artificial intelligence (AI) was used to help prepare the submission materials, including writing, editing or generating any part of the written entry or supporting materials.
This disclosure applies only to the submission materials, not to AI used in the nominee’s work or in work submitted as part of the nomination.