Next Big Creator 2022: Rewarding Outstanding Creators Who Dream Big

Team Pepper

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Posted on 9/03/22•9 min read

The Next Big Creators is a program to celebrate the rise of the creator economy. Creating content is a feasible way to make money, express yourself and take control over your life. By rewarding the outstanding creators who dreamt big and made something out of their ideas, we want to inspire more people to step into content creation.

There is a noticeable shift in the direction that people’s hopes and aspirations are taking today, as more of them manifest their talents at content creation. Whether you write, sing, speak, draw, design, build, you can now find a way to make a living off of something you genuinely enjoy.

It’s also important to note that creators today are no longer sticking to just one medium or channel. They are writing, shooting videos, making podcasts, running businesses, often all simultaneously. This was the theme behind having six categories of creators:

Writers
Designers
Creators for Change
Video Creators
Audio Creators
Product Creators

We picked 5 winners from each category* and the prize distribution was as follows

1st Prize – INR 50,000 + more rewards

2nd Prize – INR 30,000 + more rewards

3rd Prize – INR 20,000 + more rewards

4th Prize – INR 15,000 + more rewards

5th Prize – INR 10,000 + more rewards

We began the preliminary drive-by mid-January and spread the word about the Awards. The process went on as follows:

Nomination Stage

We settled on a few rules that would allow us the largest possible number of quality applicants. There were no limitations on age, experience, niche, etc., but we were strict about originality and creativity. We had 10,000+ applications by the time the nomination window closed.

Voting Stage

We decided to have a joint selection process with voting and a jury evaluation phase. Each voter could choose three creators per category. It was amazing to see so many creative vote appeals that also led us to announce 2 more prize categories – Most Creative Vote Appeal (INR 10,000) and Public Choice Award (1st prize of INR 25,000 and 2nd prize of INR 10,000)

Jury Evaluation

The creators with the most votes were shortlisted for evaluation by our stellar jury. They were briefed on the parameters we had decided to check – originality, creativity, community connect, impact, consistency, and vision.

Once the winner selection process was finalized, we turned attention to the Summit. We wanted this to be more than just an Awards ceremony, so we took the lessons learned from the Elevate summit for the NBC Summit. This time with more focus on content creators and channels.

We lined up over 70 speakers. Some of our jury members also spoke about their evaluation experience. We also had branded panels bringing our audience closer to the speakers we love.

So who won? That is the burning question!

We are proud to present the Internet’s Biggest Sensations of 2022, creators who are doing fantastic work and represent the best that will come in this decade.

Writers

1. Saloni Sharma

What started as a small escape in writing as a contrast to her love for reading books, was left behind as soon as she left school. Caught between her college life and the pandemic in 2020, she started an Instagram account (@worddaadict_), and found a way to weave her love for cinema and her magic of words.

2. Tuheena Raj

Tuheena is a poet with the eyes of a photographer. She is passionate about performing arts and believes that art is the most natural and vital form of self-expression and identity. She thinks words have the power to move people and bring about revolutions and hence, her poetry is soft rebellion.

3. Sindhu Shivaprasad

Sindhu is a writer, reader, and researcher of obscure knowledge. By day, she works as a copywriter, design documenter, and content strategist. By night, she goes down the esoteric rabbit holes about any topic that catches her fancy. She’s been published in Kitaab, the Yorkshire Post, UX Collective, UX Planet, Curious, and much more.

4. Mehak Mirza Prabhu

Mehak is a storyteller and writer, who creates fictional stories in Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, and English. Audiovisual storytelling is her unique strength. Also a certified Life Coach, scriptwriter, social reform enthusiast, speaker on Tedx and Josh Talks; she runs an online storytelling school; ‘Jhumritaliaya’, that merges classic storytelling form, with original stories that reflect recent times.

5. Ghazal Khanna

Ghazal Khanna is an award-winning poet, screenwriter, feminist, and educator. Her work has made its way to Times Now, Radio Mirchi, Feminism in India, and more. She teaches creative writing with My Captain and works as an Assistant Director at Swastik Productions. Her work speaks of a life derailed by abuse, grounded in her own experiences as a queer brown woman.

Designers

1. Soumyaraj Vishwakarma

Soumyaraj is an Illustrator from Gujarat and has done a broad range of work including illustrations for books, websites, home décor, etc. She is currently a Visual designer in TCS Interactive. Her art is a blend between natural details and aesthetics. She wishes to spark hope with a sense of calmness through her vivid and detailed artworks.

2. Bhavya Desai

Based in Madras, India, Bhavya is an illustrator and cartoonist. He gets a lot of his inspiration from local culture; the small-scale, the eccentric, the ordinary. His intent is to inspire those who see his work to look more carefully at the world around them, and to discover beauty in everything!

3. Drishti Agarwal

Drishti Agarwal is a fashion communication graduate, illustrator, photographer, and budding entrepreneur based out of Lucknow, India. By launching her lifestyle label ‘Nefertiti’, she’s looking forward to revolutionizing the design industry by targeting the new generation and providing them with statement products that will reflect their style and add to their personality.

4. Mehek Purohit

Mehek Purohit, is an artistic powerhouse, Founder & Creative Head of Chakli Art, a leading digital marketing agency from Mumbai managing Global Brands. Her love for art has grown drastically in her veins with time and has shown her a vision to revolutionize marketing and take consumers on a creative and intellectual journey.

5. Ashish Khatri

His page will arrest your scrolling. Ashish of Doodlnation animates and creates relatable reels. His designs are simply adorable and filled with hilarious concepts.

Creators for Change

1. Nayana Premnath

Nayana Premnath is an Eco-YouTuber and Zero-waste vegan who’s been creating content synonymous with living mindfully and on par with Nature. In 2019, after 6 months of using a menstrual cup, she decided to share a series of informative videos on the product. She became the very first Indian YouTuber who was making exclusive content on Sustainability.

2. Navya Singh

Navya is an independent journalist with a passion to dig out stories that remain untold. She hopes to bring out stories that are in the interest of people and not the outrage machine.

She previously worked with a digital news organization and then left her full-time job to pursue her passion- honest journalism.

3. Aparna Sharma

Aparna Sharma is a 43-year-old mom of two girls and an adopted dog. She’s an independent writer and is extremely passionate about climate science, slow fashion, and sustainable menstruation. She is also proactively raising her daughters on plastic-free menstruation!

4. Ayush Gupta

Ayush Gupta was Introduced to “Reiki” at the age of 12 and entered this beautiful world of energies. He was awarded and recognized as Worlds Youngest Reiki Healer by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. Through Reiki, he has healed more than 500 cases including Coma and Cancer, and helped more than 150 patients during the pandemic.

5. Atumita Mod i

Atumita wishes to see a world where we openly talk, unlearn & learn about sexuality & mental health. She started her page in 2018, after being sexually abused by her first cousin and saw no hope to bounce back. She then realized the extent of the stigma and lack of awareness around mental health and abuse. To change this, she started writing about mental health & sex education.

Video Creators

1. Yuvaan

Yuvaan is a 10-year-old Content Creator who creates edutainment videos based on unique places, inventions, animal facts & much more. Yuvaan’s Mom (Madhavi) has been fighting a rare bone marrow disorder for the past 4 years. Hence, they both were mostly homebound and that’s where the idea of creating videos started off.

2. Aashna Jain

Aashna is a corporate lawyer by qualification and a career coach by profession. She guides students and fresh graduates on resume building, interview preparation, and other related skill-sets. She hopes to bridge the gap between students belonging to different colleges by grooming them for the ample number of opportunities available for them.

3. Shahbaz Shaikh

Shahbaz is a Social Media Marketer & Facebook Ads Coach from Gujurat. He creates content based on Facebook Ads and also hosts the Creator Talk Show wherein he interacts with the top creators of the digital marketing industry.

4. Lavisha Arora

Lavisha is a professional makeup artist and a content creator. She felt that there was a gap in the short form content space where there were no proper makeup education videos. And thus began her journey as a creator during the lockdown. She now has a strong community of makeup enthusiasts!

5. Malayalam Munches

Richard aka Malayalam Munches had a great passion for video production since childhood and started his first YouTube channel in 2011 but it didn’t get many views. The second channel got more success as he recorded videos for fun with his grandpa and dad. As the name suggests, currently he creates entertaining content around food. But in his own words, “I am not a “Food Reviewer” as I know nothing much about food other than eating lol.”

Audio Creators

1. Nachiket Kshire

He is the creator of the Marathi podcast Inspiration Katta, for self-help content. It is the highest-ranked Marathi podcast on Apple Podcast.

2. Rohini Ramnathan

Rohini Ramnathan is a digital creator with a specialization in audio. She hosted Singapore’s only Bollywood radio station called Radio Masti and won titles such as Best Radio Creator and Best Promo across all language stations. She launched Radio Nasha, India’s popular retro

Station. In 2020, she began podcasting with HTSMARTCAST and her show,

Whatsapp University- a popular podcast busting fake news week on week.

3. Abhay Maheshwari

He’s an engineer, writer, storyteller, podcaster, and public speaker. While podcasting gave voice to his thoughts, the act & energy of storytelling added depth & meaning to his being. He writes & narrates two short stories Hindi podcasts with a voice that has the superpower of vivid imagination that adds the ‘extra’ to his life’s most ordinary events.

4. Karan Edward Machado (Kay)

Karan is an improv artist, audio creator, and mentor who’s always had a love for audio and a sharp thrill in the world it creates for listeners. He currently hosts a primetime morning show and has worked on four podcasts, thousand radio shows, and countless events.

5. Mohammad Muneem (Alif)

Mohammad Muneem is a self-taught musician, adept filmmaker, and scriptwriter. Alif has won several accolades like the IRAA Award for the single “Like a Sufi” & the Dada Saheb Phalke award for his single ‘Lalnawath’. He co-founded a music school called muziclub in Pune that has taught music to over 5000 students.

Product Creator

Viren Oswall

Viren is the founder at Attentioun, 2X media entrepreneur & a creator economist. Attentioun was launched in 2021 and recently released its alpha product. He’s been building products in media since the age of 16, from local news aggregator to publishing platform for news publishers and now a creator economy platform for independent writers & journalists.

People’s Choice Award

1. Tanmay Shinde (@gabbar_says_)

2. Girish Kumar And Girinder Kumar (@twinsanee)

They are identical twins from Jammu who love to create content together. “Twinsanee” is creating content alongside college. They create authentic and relatable content without any high-end devices or tools and believe “chahe followers kum hai but content mai dum hai” which translates to “we may have fewer followers (on social media), but our content is powerful.”

Most Creative Vote Appeal

Aaina Chopra

Aaina toys around with words to entertain, engage and persuade the masses. As a freelance content creator, she helps people, businesses and brands amplify their growth and digital presence through high-converting content. Besides being a passionate copywriter, editor, and social media strategist, she is also a hands-on mom to a 7-year-old wild thing 👧

Instagram

Niharika Singh

As a child, Niharikha always had a keen interest in drawing & doodling. Her expression of love would be hand-made cards for her loved ones. Doodling was her way of relaxing. She started Doodloo by Niharika roughly 4 years ago, and it’s been an exciting journey since then. From personal commissions to corporate projects, she enjoys the freedom of doing a variety of work.