Innovation Awards 2026: the full winners list, and the game that took four
Roblox closed RDC 2026 with its annual creator awards. One game took four categories on its own, including the top prize. Here is the complete list, what each category means, and what the list says about where players actually are.
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Every year Roblox closes its creator conference with an awards ceremony, and the 2026 edition ended with a result that does not happen often: one game took four trophies on its own, including the biggest one of the night.
This piece has the full winners list, explains what each category actually means, and points at what the list says about what is working on Roblox right now. Because a list of winners is not just a ceremony — it is a map of where players are spending their hours.
The short answer
The 2026 Roblox Innovation Awards were announced at the close of RDC, the platform's annual creator conference. The awards are chosen by the community and split by genre and by type of work: there is a category for shooters, for RPGs, for sound design, for developer plugins, and even for avatar clothing creators.
The name that dominates the 2026 list is Animal Hospital, from studio Animal Anomaly. It won creative direction, took best new game, was the people's choice, and also carried off the Builderman Award, the most prestigious prize of the night. Four categories for a horror game set in a veterinary hospital where the patients are not quite what they appear to be.
The second name that shows up twice is Nosniy Games: the studio took best shooter with RIVALS and was also named studio of the year. It is the same team behind Treasure Quest and Super Golf.
The rest of the list is a collection of names that have probably crossed your screen already: DOORS, Jujutsu Shenanigans, 99 Nights in the Forest, Natural Disaster Survival, Piggy: Intercity.
How to find and play the winners
There is no official tab called "Innovation Awards winners" inside the app. To reach the games on this list, the route is the usual one, and three shortcuts are worth knowing:
- Search by exact name. This is the most reliable. Type the name exactly as it appears in the table below —
RIVALS,99 Nights in the Forest,Animal Hospital— and check the studio name on the game page before you go in. A popular game attracts copies, and copies tend to show up in search right next to the original. - Through the studio page. Once you find a game, click the creator name. Their page lists everything that team has published. That is how you get from RIVALS to Treasure Quest and Super Golf, for instance.
- Through recommendations. If you play one of the winners for a few minutes, the platform's recommendation system starts suggesting similar games. It is the laziest route and the one that surfaces the most games you were not looking for.
One detail that saves time: almost all of the winners are free to enter. What usually costs money is the content inside, and that varies from game to game.
If you play on a phone, filter before you queue up the whole list. Competitive shooters and visually heavy games ask more of the device, and joining a full server with a phone that is struggling is the fastest way to give up on a good game. Start with the slower ones on the list — the puzzle, word and strategy titles — and leave the heavy ones for when you are at a computer or a console.
The full list, category by category
The table below has the twenty categories in the order they were announced. Where the award goes to a person or a studio rather than a game, the middle column is deliberately empty.
Two quick readings of that table. First: Roblox no longer has a dominant genre. There is tactical shooting, a word game, football, horror, fashion, hospital simulation. The announcement says this in so many words — there is no longer one definition of a great Roblox game. Second: the two awards decided by the community, people's choice and Builderman, went to the same place. When the jury and the public agree, it is usually because the game has something that cannot be explained by the spec sheet alone.
The catches
An award is no guarantee of a full server. The list is from 2026 and rewards what happened during the year. Some of these games peaked at launch and have fewer players online now than they did then. Before you call your friends, check the active player count on the game page — it sits right below the join button.
A similar name is not the same game. This is the catch that gets the most people. An award-winning game becomes a copy target within days: one appears with the same name and a swapped character, or the same name with "[UPDATE]" glued on. Always check the studio. The table here carries the creator name for exactly that reason.
The plugin and UGC categories are not for playing. Two categories on the list reward a tool and avatar clothing, not a game. If you go into UGC Makers Toolbox looking for something to play, you will not find it — that is a tool for people who make avatar items.
The ceremony has already happened. The Innovation Awards are announced all at once, at the end of the conference. There is no open vote afterwards and no second round. What exists from here is next year's edition.
What to do next
If you came here looking for something new to play this weekend, the shortest route is to take three names from the table in genres you do not normally play. The list is useful precisely because it cuts across genres, so it works as an escape from your recommendation bubble.
If you came looking for what happened at the conference, the awards were only the closing act. RDC 2026 had platform announcements that matter to players and not just to creators, and the platform's twentieth anniversary event was announced there too.
And if you make games, the list is worth reading a different way: notice that the genre winners are, in large part, small teams with one tight idea rather than huge productions. Finish The Word is a word game. +1 Speed Keyboard Escape is a keyboard race. Neither needed an open world to win a category.
Sources
Ready-to-use artifact
| Category | Winner | Studio or creator |
|---|---|---|
| Best shooter game | RIVALS | Nosniy Games |
| Best use of audio | DOORS | LSPLASH |
| Best plugin | UGC Makers Toolbox | Onogork |
| Best puzzle game | Finish The Word | Table Game X |
| Best innovation in a branded game | Steal a Brainrot x GOAT | Do Big |
| Best party and casual game | +1 Speed Keyboard Escape | SecretVerse Studio |
| Best innovation in tech | TTK | Sable Digital |
| Best sports game | FIFA Super Soccer | Play! Football |
| Best action game | Jujutsu Shenanigans | Tze's Shenanigans |
| Best UGC creator | — | Valkenheim |
| Best innovation in creative direction | Animal Hospital | Animal Anomaly |
| Best survival game | 99 Nights in the Forest | Grandma's Favourite Games |
| Best strategy game | Mini War | M&M Community |
| Best RPG | Piggy: Intercity | Piggy: Intercity |
| Best classic game | Natural Disaster Survival | Stickmasterluke |
| Best video star | — | Laughability (YouTube) |
| Best new game | Animal Hospital | Animal Anomaly |
| People's Choice | Animal Hospital | Animal Anomaly |
| Best studio | — | Nosniy Games |
| Builderman Award | Animal Hospital | Animal Anomaly |
List checked against the official announcement on 23/09/2026. Source: about.roblox.com/newsroom/2026/09/2026-roblox-innovation-awards