Trendupp Awards 2026 has opened nominations for its sixth edition, giving African influencers and content creators a fresh awards lane across 18 categories. Pulse Nigeria reported on June 6, 2026 that the awards will recognise creators whose work between March 2025 and March 2026 shows creativity, consistency and engagement.
The biggest format change is the new Force of Streaming category. Trendupp Africa founder and CEO Tiwalola Olanubi said the category was added to recognise creators who command engagement and virality through streaming, a signal that live creator formats are now part of the mainstream awards conversation.
The official Trendupp Awards site lists creator categories spanning TikTok, Instagram, X, YouTube, comedy skits, food content, tech content, podcasting, social good, wellness, streaming and Force of Influence categories for Nigeria and international creators. Fans can nominate creators, and creators can also nominate themselves.
Trendupp says its awards platform has grown since 2021, with Pulse reporting more than 487,000 nominations across 17 categories, 486 nominees and 81 winners before this sixth edition. The 2026 edition keeps a no-vote selection model, with winners chosen by the 2026 Judging Council after nominations.
For AfroStream, the useful signal is that African creator recognition is becoming more format-specific. Streaming is no longer treated as only a gaming or live-chat side lane. It now sits beside short video, podcasting, comedy, lifestyle, food and social-good categories as its own creator identity.