We are absolutely delighted to announce our winners. Many congratulations to them all! Click on each to see the expanded detail of their entry.
Immersive theatre
WINNER: Dream Awake, China Merchant Shekou Holdings, The Production Family - China
Staged across seven levels of a transformed 1960s cruise ship in Shenzhen, The Deal invites audiences into a richly imagined version of 1920s Paris. Guests move freely through streets, shops, hidden rooms and a vibrant jazz club as multiple stories unfold around them. Combining physical theatre, dance, live music and intimate encounters, this large-scale promenade production makes the ship’s architecture an active part of a compelling story about love, ambition and consequence.
HIGHLY COMMENDED: THE CORTEGE, visomnia - UNITED STATES
Immersive dining and hospitality
winner: private drama events - united kingdom
One Way Ticket is a five-hour murder mystery staged aboard the moving British Pullman, A Belmond Train. Surrounded by original 1930s carriages, guests enjoy a four-course meal while ten characters circulate through the train, revealing clues, secrets and competing versions of events. Period costumes, bespoke publications, sensory details and live interactions create a seamless fusion of luxury hospitality and theatre, culminating in the dramatic revelation of the murderer.
Escape rooms and puzzle experiences
winner: Escape this - australia
Hotel Murder Mystery combines an escape room with a fully developed detective story. Framed for a killing inside a 1920s Parisian hotel, players must repair their escape route while identifying the real murderer. Environmental clues, witness testimony, physical mechanisms and non-linear puzzles require teams to think simultaneously as investigators and escapers. Every challenge belongs naturally within the fictional world, creating a coherent, suspenseful experience in which solving only half the mystery is not enough.
Brand activations
winner: IMAGINATION - UNITED KINGDOM
The Guinness Open Gate Experience reimagines the brewery tour as an immersive cultural destination in Covent Garden. Across five distinctive spaces, visitors explore Guinness’s London history, enter a 360-degree cinematic environment, see a working microbrewery, sample exclusive beers and learn the art of the perfect pour. Combining storytelling, brewing, design and social interaction, the experience brings together 300 years of heritage with contemporary London creativity.
HIGHLY COMMENDED: WE ARE AMPLIFY - AUSTRALIA
Interactive and projection-based
winner: dem musuems - turkey
Located beside the ancient city of Ephesus, the Ephesus Experience Museum brings the archaeological site’s history to life through projection, spatial audio, lighting, scent and vibration. Visitors move through three interconnected environments, experiencing ancient streets, rituals, daily life and a dramatic earthquake sequence before encountering a monumental vision of Artemis. With synchronised narration available in 17 languages, the museum turns cultural heritage into an accessible, emotional and physically engaging journey.
HIGHLY COMMENDED: OPEN PLANET - UNITED KINGDOM
Production and craft
WINNER: studio klv - germany
Weather Extremes turns climate science into a physical, multisensory adventure. Visitors experiment with tornadoes, clouds and weather forecasting before boarding the Uplift, a hydraulic platform that carries them through heatwaves, wildfires, floods and storms using 360-degree projection, wind, water, fog and sound. The journey concludes with real stories of people experiencing and responding to extreme weather, transforming scientific information into emotion, empathy and personal agency.