CCO of the Year

The CCO of the Year is Kateryna Mohylnytska of Kyiv Digital.

Kateryna’s work with Kyiv Digital tackled urban innovation and reputational risk management during wartime. She crafted the platform's vision through digital storytelling, strategic crisis communications, and collaborative leadership. Her efforts increased public engagement, attracted investments, ensured crisis stability, and has earned her multiple Communications Awards like the Mobile World Congress Awards. Judges praised her work's scope and complexity, noting her adaptability and strategic execution. Kateryna’s leadership improved operational efficiency, citizen satisfaction, and resilience, leading to behavioral changes and enhancing Kyiv’s social ecosystem. Her achievements gained international recognition and high user satisfaction, exemplifying impactful communication strategies in challenging circumstances.

Watch their video to discover more!

The communications awards celebrate leaders who excel at navigating today’s challenges, like rising misinformation and declining organizational trust.

As a Chief Communications Officer, your ability to lead through volatility, build trust, and upskill your team defines your impact, just like this year’s award winner.

Download our Future of Communications research to:

  • Get 3 actionable insights to transform your communications function
  • Explore communication trends that drive trust, activism, and influence
  • Future-proof your team with new skills and AI readiness

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    Q&A with Gartner Experts on Communications Awards

    Gartner experts adress some common and pressing questions about the communications awards and the leadership qualities that are most relevant to chief communication officers and other communications leaders. Read through to navigate this ever-evolving landscape effectively.

    The Chief Communications Officer awards recognize an individual who brings to life the qualities of an exceptional leader in navigating the challenges associated with being a communications leader. Judges looked for how leaders have achieved outstanding success in their role, elevating the performance of their team and function. 

    These Communications awards and the Chief Communications Officer of the Year awards are important because they recognize excellence, elevate the communications profession, inspire others, demonstrate the business value of communications leadership, and encourage continuous improvement and innovation.

    CCO awards winning entries were rewarded for demonstrating how they have:

    • Built trusted relationships with executive leadership and/or the board 
    • Enhanced team value through new capabilities (e.g., data & analytics, internal consulting, executive communications coaching) 
    • Led or influenced impactful cross-functional initiatives (e.g., generative AI adoption) 
    • Effectively managed communications during adversity (e.g., budget cuts, talent or organizational challenges) 
    • Successfully transitioned into the CCO role and/or established or rebuilt the Communications function

    If your chief communications officer meets one or more of the above criteria, consider nominating them in our 2026 Marketing and Communications Awards.

    Chief Communication Officer awards winning entries are more likely to tell a coherent story of their demonstrable impact on business objectives with a greater degree of detail and specificity.

    The communications function needs to diversify the value delivery postures it adopts to create value for the organization, champion the responsible activation of GenAI inside and beyond the communications team and work cross-functionally to reset the organization’s communications norms.

    Chief communications officers must use a combination of different types of metrics (business, behavioral, attitudinal, content performance and content output metrics) to tell a cohesive story about the impact of communications’ work. Behavioral metrics are the most important type of metric to get right because they enable communications leaders to credibly link traditional content metrics to business impact in ways their business partners can easily understand.