Seven categories. 64 finalists. One Outstanding Contribution Award. Meet the winners of the third WXO World Experience Awards.
The third WXO World Experience Awards were announced on Tuesday 21 April 2026 at Ministry of Sound, closing Day One of the World Experience Summit as part of London Experience Week 2026.
The WXO World Experience Awards celebrate the best in the Experience Economy across Experience, Business, People and Technology – from immersive theatre, museums, cultural destinations and location-based entertainment to the teams, businesses and technologies building the future of experience.
This year’s Awards were our most fiercely fought yet. The standard has risen markedly: the depth, rigour and ambition of submissions signalled a field coming of age. Across seven categories, 64 finalists showed just how far the Experience Economy has evolved – creatively, commercially, culturally and technologically.
As ever, winners were decided by votes from members of the World Experience Organization: leaders and practitioners shaping the industry from the inside. That peer vote is what gives these awards their unique weight.
Across the evening, finalists, WXO members, partners and friends gathered to celebrate work that is expanding what experience can do – for audiences, for organisations, for places, and for culture.
We are enormously proud of everyone who entered, everyone who made the shortlist, and of course the winners below.
A huge thank you to Damian Norman and Immerse LDN for sponsoring the evening.
Full shortlists can be found at the links provided. And without further ado, here are your 2026 winners.
Experientialist of the Year
Winner: Mikhael Tara Garver
Mikhael Tara Garver’s career spans some of the defining work in immersive experience, including Sleep No More and Star Wars experiences at Disney, alongside directing, producing and dramaturgy across independent immersive practice and large-scale entertainment.
Today, through Culture House Immersive, she is helping turn early-stage ideas into venue-ready and tourable formats across sport, music, tasting, family and haunt experiences. Her work as a connector across the ecosystem positions her contribution not only as creative output, but as infrastructure for the industry.
Shortlist: Vance Garrett; Arjan Schimmel; Louis Alfieri; Jeff Hull; Anam Ahmad; Barbara Ann Michaels; Adeleh Basiri; Mikhael Tara Garver.
>> Click for full shortlist announcement
Experience Team of the Year
Winner: BRC Imagination Arts
For over 45 years, BRC Imagination Arts has operated at the highest level of experience design, with more than 500 global honours and two Academy Award nominations.
Its “Deep Story” methodology begins by identifying the shared emotional trigger between audience and subject, then building narrative, spatial design and sensory systems around that core. The result is work designed not only for attention, but for emotional and behavioural change.
Shortlist: The Hanging House; BRC Imagination Arts; Done + Dusted X Ltd; HOL Experiences; KLING KLANG KLONG; Artemis Is Burning; JFI Productions.
>> Click for full shortlist announcement
Experience Tech of the Year
Winner: L-Acoustics DJ
L-Acoustics DJ enables real-time stem separation of stereo tracks into vocals, bass, drums and instruments, allowing DJs to spatialise sound live.
By removing the need for pre-authored object-based mixes, it lowers the barrier to spatial audio adoption in clubs and festivals, converting familiar stereo DJ workflows into spatial performance systems and expanding creative control in large-scale venues.
Shortlist: Geolocated Audio Control (Stranger Things: Face the Dark at Netflix House Dallas); L-Acoustics DJ; Beyond Endings; Worldbuildr; IAMP; DreamPark.
>> Click for full shortlist announcement
Experience Business of the Year
Winner: The Hanging House Experiential Events
Founded in a 200 sq ft garage, The Hanging House Experiential Events has grown into a 50+ person agency delivering more than 600 projects.
The business combines strong creative delivery with a 100% in-house model, proprietary IP, AI systems, profit-sharing and high employee retention. Its trajectory shows how an independent experiential agency can grow beyond traditional service economics into a scalable creative business.
Shortlist: Done + Dusted X Ltd; Luminiscence; The Hanging House Experiential Events; Eco Retreat Konark; Original X Productions; Shiva Immersive; BeCore.
>> Click for full shortlist announcement
Experience of the Year (Small)
Winner: The Death of Rasputin
Over 12 sold-out weeks on Governors Island, The Death of Rasputin turned the last days of imperial Russia into a live, navigable world.
More than 9,000 guests moved through candlelit rooms, courtly rituals, hidden contraband and occult ceremonies, with a 25% repeat-attendance rate showing how richly the experience rewarded return visits.
What made it work was not atmosphere alone, but design discipline: audience flow, light, sound and performer cues combined to guide people invisibly through the world. Participation was not decoration. It was the engine of emotional investment.
Shortlist: The Death of Rasputin; The HUM; SCADstory Atlanta; First Americans Museum Family Discovery Center; Lennox Mutual; The Key of Dreams; WishWorks; Polar Experience; J. Kruse Education Center; Stardust Immersive; Glenlore Trails; La Serre des Mondes (Futuroscope).
>> Click for full shortlist announcement
Experience of the Year (Medium)
Winner: Theater of the Mind
In Theater of the Mind, groups of 16 move through a 15,000 sq ft installation where each room explores how the brain constructs reality.
Taste, memory, scale, attention and perception become the material of the experience itself, using tactile sets, sensory shifts and research-informed design without ever feeling like a lecture.
With 42,000 visitors in Denver and extended runs in Chicago, Theater of the Mind proves that perception itself can be turned into a compelling, participatory experience.
Shortlist: Theater of the Mind; The Cortège; BLUR; Beyond Endings; Machu Picchu: Journey to the Lost City; Seeing Echoes in the Mind of the Whale; You:Matter; MizMiz Battle Carnival; Global Launch Of Nissan Nismo 2025; Stranger Things: Hawkins Christmas Market; Brixen Water Light Festival; Flashback – Yaadon Ka Fullhouse.
>> Click for full shortlist announcement
Experience of the Year (Large)
Winner: The Traitors: Live Experience (UK)
The Traitors: Live Experience (UK) is a precise system translation of a hit TV format into a live, replayable experience.
Eight identical Round Table rooms run in parallel, each with 14 players, enabling high throughput while preserving intimacy and consistency. Over 1.5 million programmable lighting cues respond dynamically to gameplay, while a live host orchestrates pacing and players drive the outcome.
With £6M revenue, 120,000 tickets and six months sold out, it stands out for combining narrative, systems design and operations into a scalable, commercially proven live experience format.
Shortlist: The Deal; The Traitors: Live Experience (UK); Stranger Things: Face The Dark (Netflix House); The Traitors Experience – Live (USA); Guinness: The Open Gate Experience; ATLAS9; Realmadrid Games; Weather Extremes – Klimahaus Bremerhaven; Netflix Stranger Things NYE Sky Show; Guangdong–Macao TCM Experience Centre; Brawl Stars – Welcome To Starr Park; Excurio’s Horizon Of Khufu.
>> Click for full shortlist announcement
WXO Outstanding Contribution Award 2026
Winner: Samit Garg
This year, we also presented the WXO World Experience Outstanding Contribution Award, which recognises a pioneering individual or organisation that has exhibited true excellence and moved the needle for the Experience Economy.
This year’s recipient was Samit Garg, Managing Director & Co-Founder of E-Factor Experiences Ltd.
Over more than two decades, Samit has helped shape cultural storytelling, destination branding and high-impact public events, championing India’s Experience and Creative Economy while building work that bridges commerce, creativity and community.
Congratulations, Samit – and congratulations to all our 2026 finalists and winners.
Click below to enjoy some highlights of the WXO Awards evening and we’ll see you all back here for 2027.
All WXO Experience Awards photography: Alistair Veryard Photography
