Snapchat announces “Snappys Awards” despite irrelevancy rumours

Snapchat is hosting its first awards show, following in the footsteps of TikTok and other major social media platforms.

The app announced its first-ever “Snappys Awards Show” to celebrate creators who have shaped Snapchat’s culture.

The show is supposedly designed to be a “creator-first recognition moment,” which will “honor creative excellence, cultural impact, and community-building.”

Snapchat will spotlight its “Snap Stars,” who have made an impact across categories from entertainment to beauty.

“The Snappys” will be held on March 31st at the company’s Santa Monica headquarters and will be hosted by comedian and impressionist Matt Friend.

Friend built his community on Snapchat and said that the platform has “always been the place where I can be completely myself.”

“I’ve grown up on this platform, so getting to host The Snappys Awards Show and celebrate the creators who are shaping comedy, music, sports, and everything in between feels full circle,” the comedian and “Snap Star” said.

Friend promises a night that is “very Snapchat,” characterized as “unexpected, unfiltered, and all about Snap Stars.”

But the host isn’t the only big name being honored at the Snappys Awards.

DJ Khaled to receive honorary award at The Snappys Awards

Snapchat announced that memeable celebrity DJ Khaled will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for his “lasting cultural impact and influence as a creator, artist, and entrepreneur.”

The social media platform seems to be stealing this award from The Grammys, which honors specific musicians each year with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Similarly, the VMAs also have an award that honors musicians’ lifetime dedication to music.

Mariah Carey won the Vanguard Award in 2025 even though her performance at the VMAs was described as “bare minimum” by internet trolls.

Snapchat follows in TikTok’s footsteps with The Snappys Awards

Snapchat isn’t the first social media platform to host their own awards show.

TikTok announced its first US awards show in December 2025, which promised to celebrate a new era of creativity.

However, TikTok and Snapchat are late to the game, as social media awards shows have been going on for years.

The Shorty Awards started in 2008 and were powered by Twitter (now X) users who voted for social media stars via hashtags in real time.

Now, the Shorty Awards has evolved to include brands, agencies, influencers, creators, and other social media professionals.

Is Snapchat still relevant?

Despite controversies, the social media platform appears to be doing well, according to its fourth-quarter 2025 results.

By the end of 2025, Snapchat reported reaching 946 million global monthly active users and is likely to reach 1 billion monthly active users in 2026.

While Snapchat isn’t close to catching up to competitors like Meta’s Instagram, which boasted 3 billion monthly active users in 2025, according to Reuters, the social media platform is apparently still going strong.

However, Reddit users claim that North American engagement has stagnated due to Snapchat’s focus on the younger generation of users.

“As people get older, they stop using it, but it's popular with younger people, so as people age out of it, others age into it,” said one Reddit user back in 2025.

Snapchat is still as controversial as ever

Snapchat, the app favoured by teens and young people, seems to be alive and kicking despite numerous reports of the platform being used by predators to groom children.

Snapchat has previously been described as a playground for pedophiles and has been used by celebrities to allegedly groom minors.

One man in Illinois used a phishing scheme to steal Snapchat access codes from 600 women to hack their accounts and steal nude photos, which he kept, sold, and traded online.

The social media company also settled a landmark social media addiction lawsuit out of court to avoid testifying in front of a judge.