The first wave of trophies are in at the TikTok Awards 2025, highlighting creators who have shaped the platform’s year with culture-defining trends, searing storytelling and a whole lot of reach. As announcements are made, we’ll be updating the list of every winner to keep it clear and up to the minute.
Winners list updated live throughout the ceremony
- Creator of the Year: Keith Lee (@keith_lee125)
- @bretmanrock
- @findjeremiah
- @alexwarren
- @tinekeyounger
- @parishilton
- @valentinebrothers
- @dayanechrissel
- @mariahcrose
- @katiefanggg
- @lawbymike
- @klothesminded
- @recider
- @eliesparzaa
Why these TikTok Awards 2025 wins matter for creators
Awards on TikTok have less to do with red carpets than with measuring impact. TikTok itself has claimed that number to be more than 150 million users in the U.S., and DataReportal estimated the app’s advertising reach globally at over 1.5 billion people. Within that spectrum, winning indicates great influence on watch time, share behavior and trend origination — three metrics advertisers and labels pay more attention to when they decide where to put their money.
Keith Lee’s Creator of the Year nod illustrates how trust makes things go viral. His brief, no-frills reviews of food have regularly boosted foot traffic for mom-and-pop shops — a testament to how creator credibility can turn views into real-world events. In similar fashion, explainer clips by @lawbymike demonstrate the appetite for simple, service-oriented content, and beauty tutorials by @katiefanggg prove how-tos still outshine pure product placement on completion rates.
Entertainment crossovers are another theme. @alexwarren’s music lift and @parishilton’s pop-culture status speak to how TikTok has become a discovery stack for songs, personalities and franchises. Companies that analyze music data have observed that such TikTok-native soundbites often pull in streaming starts, effectively demonstrating a feedback loop from short-form to long-play consumption.
Standout moments and trends shaping this year’s awards
Community-driven storytelling dominated. Handles like @valentinebrothers, which features consumer advocacy and financial literacy content, took off as viewers turned to practical advice amid an economy in turmoil. That matches site-wide behavior: explainer formats and listicle scripts often generate above-average rewatch rates; the recommendation system has learned to favor those.
Global voices also broke through. Creators like @dayanechrissel and @eliesparzaa set examples of how broadly multilingual, multicultural content can travel, especially when choreography, comedy beats or vocal hooks cross the language barrier. Meanwhile, niche specialists like @recider show how micro-communities — think food science or regional cuisine or hyperlocal reviews — can scale when the storytelling is tight and the payoff comes fast.
Finally, the presence of legacy stars alongside platform-native names indicates a maturing ecosystem. For brands, the lesson is simple: merge established awareness with creator-led authenticity. For creators, hybrid strategies — live formats mixed with short-to-long pipelines and cross-posting to streaming or podcasts — are table stakes for maintaining growth beyond the algorithm’s week-to-week volatility.
How we’re tracking TikTok Awards winners in real time
Winners above are based on official onstage announcements and platform acknowledgments as they come out. Additional columns will be added in real time to produce a single, definitive roll-up for the evening’s results.
Keep an eye out for new names and standout moments as the ceremony unfolds.