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8 October 2026News · 08.10.2026 · CultAWARD
On the market · Gala 2027CultAWARD
has launched
A star worth reaching for.
An idea from 2009 has become a market-ready format. Universal Brands has built CultAWARD as a brand – from design and concept through to delivering an award programme across three levels, with its own trophy, Kult-Tour and gala.
- Status
- Complete and launched · Gala in December 2027
- Services
- Brand, design, concept, website, certificate, programme
- Next step
- Public vote, partners, gala preparations
The brief
To create an award whose scope, dignity and character do justice to a historically significant event. Not an advertising platform, but an archive of cultural memory: for things, works and people that a community holds dear. A format on this scale called for countless stages of work – research into hundreds of candidates, tribute texts, certificates, visual worlds, rules and procedures.
What we built
- Brand identity and logo system with the tagline “Made for the Best”
- Trophy, certificate and jury tribute conceived as a unified record of recognition
- A cult canon with seven defining characteristics and 14 genres as the basis for assessment
- The cultaward.com website with nominations, programme, club and editorial content
- Formats: Kult-Tour with a cult vehicle and camera crew, CA:Club, partner programme, gala
The class of 2027
The inaugural class honours 111 cultural icons: 40 from Bamberg, 50 from Germany and 21 from around the world. The Bamberg icons will be honoured from January 2027, the national icons in three rounds in January, May and September, and the international icons during Cult Week in October. The programme culminates in the gala in Bamberg in December 2027 – with regional, national and international awards.
Idea, concept and designs: Oliver Hillebrecht / Universal Brands. The visuals were produced digitally from these designs with AI assistance. The date and venue for the gala will be announced once confirmed.
Universal Brands · Creative Studio · Bamberg