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25 creators have received Instagram's 2025 Ring Award, as per a list posted by Instagram on their official profile. As per Instagram's creator page, the Ring award is "all about celebrating those who aren't afraid to take creative chances and do it their own way" and features creators who "bring people together over their creativity."
The page revealed that to decide on the winners, they brought together a panel of judges, whom they called
"legendary creatives from all around the world."
The panel of judges included Spike Lee, Marc Jacobs, Grace Wales Bonner, Kaws, Pat McGrath, MKBHD, Yara Shahidi, Cedric Grolet, Ilona Maher, Tainy, Murad Osmann, Eva Chen, and Adam Mosseri.
To identify a ring winner, whenever winners post a story, an exclusive gold ring will show up around their profile picture instead of the usual Stories ring. Winners also have the chance to customize their profile backdrop color and change their like button.
Instagram Rings 2025 Winners explored
In 2025, Instagram announced 25 Ring winners from all across the world. The 25 winners include;
- @colebennett
- @gabrielomoses
- @ninagawamika
- @nigelsylvester
- @akiandkoichi
- @twolostkids
- @oliviadeano
- @omgadrian
- @linda_lomelino
- @tyshawn
- @dollysingh
- @djagonline
- @zarnagarg
- @golloria
- @sebastianjern
- @futuradosmil
- @laufey
- @twinshadbad
- @mimles
- @lifeonfilm
- @ariatinsta
- @briancantstopeating
- @cbrickley603
- @elyse_myers
- @thehomesteadingrd
One of the judges on the panel, Yara Shahidi, while speaking with Cosmopolitan in a recent article published on October 16, revealed the selection process and how the panel decided on the winners.
"I'd say that everyone that I proposed (for the award) was pretty interdisciplinary." It wasn't necessarily me focusing on, like, who is in my traditional discipline. It was more like, 'I love this person's tone', or 'I love how this person tapped into such a unique voice"
The Rings program also doesn't prioritize follower count and cultural influence, and as per Yara, her main intention as a judge was recognizing creators who had "creative clout that isn't always captured by following or shares and re-shares."
"For the judges, the guidelines were truly; who inspires us creatively? And thinking about who pours into and uses the platform in that creative way. It was very intetional that the verbiage wasn't around, 'you need X amount of followers or up' but more relying on who we turn to as regular sources of inspo."
Yara also noted that the program might continue to promote "a very honest conversation about how creativity and these social platforms really should be in constant conversation." Instagram has yet to confirm if the program will be followed in the upcoming years.
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