Instagram launches Rings award to honor innovative creators (yes, they really get gold rings)

YouTube has their Creator Award plaques, and now Instagram has their rings.

On Monday, Instagram announced the Rings award, which recognizes creators "who aren’t afraid to take creative chances and do it their way." The winners get a gold ring around their Instagram profile photo and the ability to customize their profile background color and change the "like" button. They will also receive an actual, physical ring.

"Rings isn’t about honoring a specific type of content — it honors a spirit," Instagram said in its press release. "One theme we hear from creators all over the world is the excitement and nervousness that come with making something and putting it out into the world. It takes courage to chase an idea, quiet that inner critic, and create anyway. This award is for the creators who don’t just participate in culture — but shift it, break through whatever barrier holds them back to realize their ambitions. Because every act of creativity, big or small, can lead to something great."

A panel of judges — including Spike Lee, Marc Jacobs, Grace Wales Bonner, KAWS, Pat McGrath, Marques Brownlee aka MKBHD, Yara Shahidi, Cedric Grolet, Ilona Maher, Tainy, Murad Osmann, Eva Chen, and Adam Mosseri — nominated their favorite creators and voted for the final winners. Wales Bonner, one of the judges, designed the ring, which Instagram said in a press release is intended to "inspire even more creativity and reminds us all to take creative chances."

Credit: Instagram

Brownlee, a tech and culture judge with 5.1 million followers on Instagram, 20.4 million followers on YouTube, and a spot on the Mashable 101 list, told Mashable that he has "a pretty good eye for what I call like 'high effort content.' Like when I watch something, and I think to myself, 'that seemed like it was really hard to make,' that makes me really happy."

"A really big part of my own judging criteria was high effort content and creative, and taking risks and trying to make really good stuff," Brownlee said.

While the rings might seem similar to YouTube's subscriber plaques, they don't actually have anything to do with follower count — the basis of YouTube's plaque. Instead, this is the chance to get recognition from your peers, Brownlee said, adding that he's "excited about the creators that will get recognized for this and hopefully the future of the program. Hopefully there's a long future of Rings after this initial wave."