XBIZ locked in the nominees for the 2026 XMA Europe Awards on August 1, and the scale of the slate says something about the European side of the business. There are 980 nominees across 62 categories, presented by the creator platform Fansly, with the ceremony set for September 13 in Amsterdam.
Numbers like that are the point. A 62-category, nearly-thousand-nominee program is not a small trade dinner. It is a mapping of an entire regional industry, and the fact that it keeps growing tells you where the money and attention are pooling.
How it works, and when
The awards run on peer voting. Industry members can start voting on XBIZ.net beginning August 5, which puts the decision in the hands of people working in the field rather than a closed jury. That model is worth noting, because a peer-voted award certifies standing among colleagues, a different credential than fan votes or editorial picks.
The ceremony anchors a cluster of European industry events. It serves as the finale to a run that includes the XBIZ Amsterdam conference and the inaugural X3 Amsterdam expo, so the awards are the social capstone on a working week rather than a standalone gala.
This is also a distinct program from the 2026 XMA Creator Awards, also Fansly-presented, which wrapped at XBIZ Miami in May. The Europe edition is the flagship European recognition event, not a rerun of the US show.
The recurring name here is Fansly, and its position as presenting sponsor of both the Miami and Amsterdam programs is the quieter story. Awards shows in this industry run on platform money, and which platform pays to put its name on the flagship events is a read on who is winning the creator-platform war.
For years OnlyFans defined that category by default. A competitor presenting the marquee European and US award programs in the same year is spending to be seen as the industry’s home, and sponsorship budgets tend to follow market ambition. The trophies go to performers and studios. The sponsorship line goes to whichever platform wants the whole room to associate it with the top of the business.
The full category breakdown will firm up as voting runs, but the shape is already clear. A European awards program at this size, backed by a platform buying visibility across two continents, is a marker of an industry with real institutions and real competition for who anchors them. Amsterdam in September is where this year’s version gets settled.
