After hosting the TikTok Awards in various regions over the past two years, TikTok is now launching a U.S. version of the event as well, which will highlight the most influential creators, trends, and moments “that make TikTok the heartbeat of culture for 170 million Americans.”
TikTok’s U.S. Awards will incorporate fan votes for the top creators in the app, which will culminate in an awards ceremony at the Hollywood Palladium on December 18th.
As per TikTok:
“The TikTok Awards ceremony will be presented in front of a live audience of hundreds of creators, complete with a red carpet livestream welcoming arrivals fresh from their GRWMs at 5pm. The show will begin LIVE on TikTok at 6pm PT and on Tubi, the official streaming partner of the TikTok Awards 2025.”
The ceremony will also be available on demand the next day on Tubi.
TikTok says that the awards will “serve to champion the most memorable videos, the creative innovators, the breakthrough artists, and our community's favorite storytellers.”
Voting opens on November 18th, via a dedicated in-app portal, which will enable users to cast their vote for nominees across fourteen categories.
Those categories are:
- Creator of the year
- Video of the year
- Rising star of the year
- Breakthrough artist of the year
- Storyteller of the year
- Muse of the year
- TikTok for Good award
- “My Show is On” award (Film and TV)
- MVP of the year (sports)
- “Okay Slay” award (Fashion and Beauty)
- “I Was Today Years Old” award” (Education)
- “I Immediately Added to Cart” award (TikTok Shop)
- CapCut creator of the year
- TikTok LIVE creator of the year
Nominees have now been announced in each category, and voting opens on November 18th.
It’s another way for TikTok to recognize the contributions of top creators, while also highlighting the impact it has on U.S. culture and the economy, in a range of ways.
TikTok’s keen to underline this, as it continues to lobby for the cancellation of the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” which could still force the app out of the U.S., if it’s enacted.
U.S. President Donald Trump has withheld enforcement of the act for almost a year now, as his team continues to negotiate an alternative arrangement, which would see TikTok sold into U.S. ownership, meeting the requirements of the Senate-approved law.
But a solution hasn’t been signed off on as yet, and in the meantime, TikTok has been doing all that it can to showcase how valuable its platform is to Americans, in the hopes that this will alleviate some pressure on the app.
The U.S. TikTok Awards are another effort on this front, which could help to better ingratiate the platform with more consumers and influential leaders.
While also recognizing talent, and it should be a valuable connective celebration for the app.
