The Navigator Award
A publisher-nominated award recognizing brands and agencies that support journalism through thoughtful decisions around brand safety and suitability, to be presented at Navigator New York and Navigator London in 2026.
NOMINATE YOUR PARTNERWhat Is The Navigator Award?
For a long time, the conversation around brand safety has been stuck in the same place. Publishers know the problem. Buyers know the problem, at least in part. The tools are there. The frameworks are there. And yet too often, the result is the same: good journalism gets treated as something to avoid instead of something worth supporting.
Journalism is expensive to produce. But hard news, investigative reporting, and difficult stories do not become less important because they are harder to monetize. And brands are missing real audiences when they cut themselves off from trusted publisher environments.
The Navigator Award gives publishers a way to recognize the brands and agencies that have made a real, intentional effort to show up in trusted news and publisher environments, especially where blanket approaches to brand safety and suitability would have made it easier to stay away.
So, the point of this award is simple: make those decisions visible, giving the industry a clearer view of what meaningful support for journalism actually looks like in practice.
What Makes This Award Different?
Most awards programs are built around forms, fees, categories, and campaigns to win. This is not that.
The Navigator Award is:
Designed to evolve
We are starting here because this issue matters and because it is timely. But the Navigator Award also gives us room to recognize the kinds of leadership our industry needs more of.
Publisher-nominated
Publishers bring the stories. Brands and agencies do not nominate themselves.
Conversation-driven
We are not asking you to fill out a giant form and hope for the best. This starts with a conversation.
Focused on intentionality
We are looking for evidence of a real decision, not accidental adjacency.
Built to recognize behavior that helps journalism
We want to surface the people who are making it easier for quality reporting to be funded and seen.
Should You Submit a Nomination?
If you’re a publisher who can point to a brand or agency that has done more than follow the easiest path, the answer is yes. If you are a brand or agency reading this and thinking, “We should be part of this,” the answer is no. Instead, talk to your publisher partners. This is their story to tell.
We are looking for stories from publishers that show clear judgment and real intent on behalf of their brand and agency partners, which may look like:
1. SUPPORTING COVERAGE BECAUSE IT MATTERS
A publisher brings forward an editorial opportunity, a reporting initiative, or a difficult area of coverage. A brand or agency sees the value in that work and supports it.
2. CHOOSING NEWS ON PURPOSE
A buyer decides that trusted news environments matter and works to make sure campaigns can run there, rather than letting broad exclusions make the decision for them.
3. GOING BEYOND DEFAULT SETTINGS
A brand or agency recognizes that the simplest approach is not always the smartest one, and takes steps to align buying decisions with actual business goals, audience reality, and trusted environments.
4. ACTING LIKE A PARTNER, NOT JUST A BUYER
A publisher can point to a relationship where the buy-side team engaged thoughtfully, asked better questions, and made room for journalism rather than shutting it out by default.
That is why this starts with publishers. The people closest to the work are the ones best positioned to say who is helping, who is showing up, and who deserves to be recognized.
What You Shouldn’t Submit
We are not looking for:
- A case study about how to use brand safety technology
- A creative workaround designed to game adjacency rules
- A campaign that happened to run near news without any intention behind it
- A self-congratulatory submission dressed up as support for journalism
- A paid submission
- A sponsorship opportunity disguised as an award
- A contest to see who can make the hardest news topic sound most award-worthy
THIS IS NOT AN ANTI-TECHNOLOGY AWARD
Yes, technology solutions are important to the conversation around brand safety and suitability. What we care about for this award, however, is the decision-making around those tools, not the tools themselves. The judgment before and after them. The willingness to say, “We want to be present in this environment,” and to follow that through in practice.
How Nominations Work
We are keeping this simple on purpose. There is no giant submission packet. No elaborate entry process. No exercise in writing award-copy for judges who were not in the room.
If you are a publisher and you have a story to share, reach out and start a conversation.
Email: support@beeler.tech
From there, we will talk through the story, understand the context, and do the heavy lifting with you.
Submissions are open now. They will close ahead of the awards presentation, and we will communicate timing as that deadline approaches. If you have someone in mind, do not wait.
How Award Winners Will Be Recognized
The Navigator Award will be presented at Navigator New York and Navigator London.
Where possible, recognized brands and agencies will also have the opportunity to share their stories with the community, so this becomes more than a moment on stage.