Content Person of the Year: Celebrating Five Years of Individual Excellence in Content Marketing
This award celebrates the individual who has made the most significant contribution to content marketing over the past 12 months. Discover what the award represents, hear from previous winners, and learn what judges look for in a winning nomination.
The International Content Marketing Awards celebrates exceptional work stellar agencies a brand or a body of output. However the Content Person of the Year award takes a different approach. It places a human being at the centre of the spotlight and asks a simple yet powerful question: who has done most to advance content marketing in the past twelve months?
They champion work that challenges convention. They mentor the next generation while delivering results for clients and organisations today. They make the whole industry better, not just their corner of it.
Now in its sixth year, our Content Person of the Year award has become one of the most coveted individual accolades in the industry.
“It’s a brave new world out there and brands are looking for new ideas that go beyond traditional advertising – this is the beauty of content. I’m proud to receive this very special award and represent Australia on the world stage at this exciting time.”
What the Award Represents
Content marketing is not a discipline short of talent. Across agencies, brands, publishers, and platforms, there are thousands of skilled, dedicated professionals doing exceptional work every day. What this award sets out to do is find the individual whose contribution in the past year has stood apart: someone whose influence extends beyond their job title, whose impact is felt not just in their organisation but across the wider content community.
Winning Content Person of the Year is not about having the biggest profile or the loudest voice. Past winners have included strategic leaders who transformed how content is valued within their organisations, creative directors who elevated the craft, editors who set new standards for audience-first thinking, and practitioners who have pushed the boundaries of what content marketing can achieve.
The award recognises excellence across three broad dimensions: the quality and impact of the individual's own work; their leadership and influence within their team or organisation; and their contribution to the content marketing industry as a whole. Judges look for evidence of all three, and the strongest nominations make a compelling case across all of them.
Five Years, Five Champions
Since the award launched, five individuals have claimed the title. Each brought something distinctive to their win — a different kind of leadership, a different moment in the industry's evolution. Together, they tell a story about where content marketing has been and where it is going.
2021 | Michelle Galluzzo, The Precinct
2022 | David Bexelius, OTW
2023 | Thais Bogarin, Essity
2024 | Darshini Shah, T. Rowe Price
2025 | Peter Klomp, UEFA
What Judges Look For
The judging panel for Content Person of the Year is drawn from senior figures across the content marketing industry — leaders who understand what genuine excellence looks like, and who bring rigour and care to every nomination they assess.
Nominations are assessed holistically, but judges consistently return to a set of core questions when evaluating each candidate:
Has this person made a measurable difference to the quality of content produced around them?
Have they demonstrated leadership that goes beyond their formal role?
Have they contributed to the broader content marketing community, through education, advocacy, mentorship, or original thinking?
Does their story inspire others in the industry?
The strongest nominations are specific and evidence-led. They paint a clear picture of who this person is, what they have done, and why it matters — not just to their team and clients, but to content marketing as a whole.
“An award like this forces you to pause for a moment and actually dare to be proud of yourself and think that you must be doing something right. But after that It’s mostly been business as usual. One thing that I’ve noticed is that I’ve received more proposals to give speeches and lectures for students.”
Who Should Be Nominated?
Content Person of the Year is open to any individual working in or closely with the content marketing industry. There are no restrictions on seniority, specialism, or type of organisation. Nominees may work agency-side, brand-side, or in a publishing or platform role. They may be at the height of an established career or emerging as a powerful new voice in the discipline.
What matters is not the job title. It is the impact. Nominees should have made a demonstrable contribution to content marketing in the past twelve months — whether through the work they have delivered, the people they have led and developed, the conversations they have shifted, or the standards they have raised.
Self-nominations are welcome. Peer nominations, team nominations, and nominations from clients or collaborators are equally valid. The CMA encourages nominators to think broadly: the person who deserves this award may not be the one who is most visible. They may be the force behind the work, the individual who makes everyone around them better, or the voice that the industry needs to hear more from.
Why This Award Matters Now
Content marketing is at an inflection point. Audiences are harder to reach. Attention is scarcer. Artificial intelligence is reshaping how content is created, distributed, and measured. In this environment, human expertise, judgement, and creativity matter more, not less.
The people who will define the next chapter of content marketing are already working in our industry today. They are navigating these challenges with intelligence and imagination. They are raising the bar for what content can do for brands, for audiences, and for society. Content Person of the Year exists to find them, celebrate them, and ensure that the industry knows their names.
Five years of this award have shown us something important: when you shine a light on individual excellence, the whole community benefits. Nominees are inspired to push further. Winners become mentors and advocates. The conversations that nominations prompt — about what great looks like, about who is doing it, about what the industry values — are conversations worth having, year after year.
Submit Your Nomination
Nominations for Content Person of the Year 2026 are open now. To nominate yourself, a colleague, a client, or anyone who has made a real mark on content marketing this year, visit our award portal or contact the CMA team at info@the-cma.com.
The deadline for nominations is Friday, 10th July and our shortlist will be announced in August, with the winner revealed at our award ceremony in November.