From overwhelming activation queues to Grace Mondlana's double win and Yasmin Furmie's crowd-pleasing moment, a first-hand look at the 2026 Content Creator Awards.
Grace Mondlana took home the Trendsetter and Samsung Galaxy Creator of the Year awards at the 2026 Content Creator Awards at The Galleria in Sandton. Picture: Supplied
By the time the last trophy had been handed over at The Galleria in Sandton, I couldn’t help but feel like the Content Creator Awards have outgrown the room they used to fit in. Whether that’s a triumph or a logistical problem depends on where you were standing.
Too many brands, too little breathing room
With this many sponsors, the Samsung Galaxy Content Creator Awards were always going to be a brand-activation maze. There were stands throughout the pre-event holding area. The trouble was the sheer number of guests packed around them, which turned every activation into a queue I wasn’t prepared to join.
Even getting a drink was a bit of a wait. The line at the outdoor spirits bar alone was a wait, and I made a call that most guests around me seemed to make too: no brand-activation stand was worth the time.
The layout didn’t help. From where I stood, it was impossible to tell which brand was doing what, or what a guest actually got for engaging. If a sponsor’s activation can’t explain itself in a glance, it isn’t doing its job, even if that job is just giving people something to focus on as they wait for doors to the main hall to open.
A big show that ran smoothly
Then the lights went down, and the evening found its footing. Hosted by comedian and nominee Mpho “Popps” Modikoane, the main show seemed to run without a hitch, which is no small feat given the volume of cameos planned. According to the organisers, the line-up included Mama Ka Lo opening the show, an Awkward Dates skit with Lasizwe and Cedric Fourie, a medley by six nominees from the 947 Sound of Tomorrow category, and a dance performance choreographed by nominee Benny Jnr, who also returned for the finale.
Mpho Popps, who’s known to reuse material for his MC gigs, dusted off an entirely fresh set of quips for this show, which was also recorded for broadcast on eMedia-owned platform, eVOD.
Grace Mondlana’s moment
When I wrote about Grace Mondlana’s nominations in August, the question was whether her fans would actually show up to vote. She was arguably this year’s most-talked-about social media figure, and the results cemented it.
She won both the Trendsetter Award and the Samsung Galaxy Creator of the Year Award. Her haul for the Creator of the Year Award came with a prize package worth more than R70 000, according to the CCA website.
She went in with three nominations and left with two awards. The third, the BYD People’s Choice Award, went to Olwethu Ncapayi, a reminder that even a social media juggernaut doesn’t sweep everything and an ordinary guy who makes simple but relatable content can also see his hard work pay off.
If Mondlana had the headlines, Style Award winner Yasmin Furmie had the room. Nominated by her son, she got the warmest audience response of the evening as the audience cheered loudly after hearing her name called and kept it going long after she made her way up on stage.
Content Creator Awards 2026 winners are:
- Dance Creator Award – Chad Jones
- Style Award – Yasmin Furmie
- 947 Sound of Tomorrow Award – Mikhalé Jones
- Best Social Series Award – Vafa Naraghi
- Best Creator x Brand Collaboration Award – Nabilah Kariem for Le Creuset
- Expert Voices Award – Miss Angler
- Telkom Best Online Series Award – The Adventures of Noko Mashaba
- Trendsetter Award – Grace Mondlana
- Podcast of the Year Award – SMWX Podcast
- Best Comedy Content Creator Award – Ikho Kweba
- Thumbstopping Award – Vafa Naraghi
- Wildcard Award – Lindokuhle Madlingozi (@Lindosasmr)
- Cars.co.za Automotive Content Award – Tebogo Moropa
- BYD People’s Choice Award – Olwethu Ncapayi
- Samsung Galaxy Creator of the Year Award – Grace Mondlana
- Emerging Creator Award, backed by Creator Club – Sine Mbangata (@Sine_rsa_)
- YouTube Creator of the Year Award – Lasizwe
- Impact Creator Award – Joshua Rubin (@Joshwideawake)
- Excellence in Branded Content Award – Oliver Agency for Cleanipedia presents Bakhombise
- #CapturedWithGalaxy Award – Katlego Lekoba
More than prizes
The prize packages and gift bags for winners are a strong incentive for future hopefuls to throw their hats in the ring next year, and for an awards platform now backed by Samsung Galaxy, that pipeline matters. As founder Manuela Dias de Deus put it, the partnership is an exciting next step for the awards.
Where WAV Festival stole the night
After a few hours of recognition came the chance to enjoy the atmosphere at the official afterparty – and this is where WAV Festival’s organisers put on the evening’s most enticing showing.
WAV is the R&B-focused festival from Africa Creative Agency and The Malachite Group. Its debut edition on 2 January 2026 at Green Point Track drew, according to the organisers, more than 8 000 attendees. The next edition is set for January 2027 in Cape Town. What I saw in Sandton was a preview, a deliberate effort to put modern R&B in the spotlight months before the main event.
DJ Teddy (real name Tumi Sithebe) got the party started with some mellow tunes by the most popular names in recent music history and this got people slowly sauntering onto the dance floor. His set was followed by sounds by Venom, DJ Radix, Count Lupa and DJ Ethan.
By this time, the crowds had thinned out significantly, allowing guests to properly feel what the festival will sound like while enjoying some greatly welcomed nibbles and drinks that arrived in good time.
