Honoring Legends of Digital Culture: Bennett Awards Partners with VidCon for Inaugural Hall of Fame
2025 VidCon Hall of Fame Award, featuring Smosh (designed by Bennett Awards)
Part 1 – The Vision: Honoring YouTube Icons at VidCon 2025
When VidCon, the world’s largest celebration of digital content creation, launched its first-ever VidCon Hall of Fame in June 2025, they needed awards as bold and iconic as the creators being honored. The event, held from June 19–21 in Anaheim, CA, marked a historic moment: celebrating YouTube's 20th anniversary and recognizing legacy creators who helped build the foundation of today’s creator economy.
VidCon approached Bennett Awards with a clear vision — to design awards for a hand-selected group of YouTube trailblazers, including Hank Green (co-founder of VidCon), Rhett & Link, Grace Helbig, Tyler Oakley, Rosanna Pansino, Joey Graceffa, and Smosh co-founders Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. The client requested a design that incorporated the VidCon logo and conveyed festivity, prestige, and excitement.
Bennett Awards was selected for the project based on our deep expertise in crafting logo-based custom awards and our longstanding reputation for quality craftsmanship. Though this was our first time collaborating directly with VidCon, our extensive portfolio of high-profile recognition pieces made us a natural fit to bring this vision to life.
Part 2 – From Concept to Creation: A Collaborative Design Journey
VidCon came to us with a few key design elements in mind: the awards should feature the VidCon logo, be eye-catching, and reflect the celebratory spirit of the Hall of Fame’s debut. From there, the creative dialogue began.
We presented two design paths: a more cost-effective acrylic option and a premium, high-impact metal award. While the acrylic version offered affordability and flexibility, the client was ultimately drawn to the elegance and heft of the higher-end metal piece — a decision that aligned with their desire to emphasize prestige and longevity.
The final concept was crafted from waterjet-cut machined aluminum, brushed to a softly shining silver for the background, with the letters powder-coated in a vibrant gold finish. Even the base was gold powder-coated aluminum — a bold, unified look that captured the energy and honor of the moment. The VidCon logo is set at an angle which already adds a dynamic visual element, and set against the chromatic silver background, the letters seem to pop. The engineering challenge was capturing the letters, which appear to float in the logo, and translating this digital, graphic element into a structurally sound, three-dimensional form.
Our design and fabrication team worked through several iterations to ensure the letters remained true to the original logo while being securely integrated into the physical piece. Using custom brackets and precision-cut supports, we created a seamless design that maintained the logo’s visual impact from all angles, and captured the movement, creativity, and dynamism of the video work being honored.
In total, we produced nine custom awards, each a unique tribute to the trailblazing creators being inducted.
Part 3 – The Final Product: A Symbol of Legacy and Innovation
The final award is a gleaming symbol of digital creativity and cultural impact. Constructed from high-polished and powder-coated aluminum, the piece is both sleek and weighty — a tangible representation of the lasting influence of each Hall of Fame inductee.
The VidCon logo, set at its iconic striking angle, dominates the design and immediately draws the eye. The sparkling gold finish enhances its visibility under event lighting and stage spotlights, ensuring each recipient’s moment of recognition felt as monumental as their contribution to online culture.
Though minimal in its form, the award is packed with meaning: a convergence of artistry, innovation, and identity. It’s not just a trophy — it’s a milestone marker for creators who helped shape the creator economy as we know it.
Part 4 – Impact and Reception: A Moment Worthy of the Spotlight
VidCon Anaheim 2025 drew more than 55,000 attendees, including creators, fans, industry leaders, and executives. The Hall of Fame awards were presented during the event’s opening ceremony — a marquee moment that helped kick off three days of panels, meet-and-greets, keynotes, and performances.
The creators inducted into the Hall of Fame boast a combined 83 million followers, and many have been active since YouTube’s earliest days — a testament to their staying power and influence. The awards presentation quickly made waves across social platforms, with creators sharing behind-the-scenes footage and emotional reactions. The moment helped generate significant buzz for the new Hall of Fame initiative, reinforcing VidCon's position as a forward-thinking leader in digital culture.
Though quantitative HR or retention metrics aren’t applicable in this case, the qualitative success was clear: enthusiastic audience reactions, robust online engagement, and universal praise for the elegance and impact of the award design.
As Sarah Tortoreti, Vice President of VidCon, put it in a recent statement:
“By introducing a way to honor these iconic creators in our new ‘VidCon Hall of Fame,’ we are recognizing their contribution to the evolution of digital culture and their instrumental impact on pop culture and fandom.”
Looking Ahead
At Bennett Awards, we are honored to have played a part in VidCon’s historic celebration of creator legacy. As the digital media landscape continues to evolve, we look forward to helping more organizations commemorate the innovators, influencers, and pioneers shaping our shared future — one award at a time.
