Giant Digital wins at the National Digital Awards 2026

The National Digital Awards celebrate the agencies, innovators and digital leaders shaping the future of the UK's digital economy. This year, Giant Digital and members of our team were named as finalists across seven categories - and we're proud of every one of them.

Reaching the finals across platforms, client work, and individual talent reflects the breadth of what the team has delivered over the last year. And on the night, we were delighted to bring home a win for the Public Sector and Charity Digital Agency of the Year!

The awards

Here's a little more about each of them and what they represent to us. 

WINNER - Giant Digital - Public Sector & Charity Digital Agency of the Year

This one means a lot to us as a team. It recognises not just individual projects but the body of work we've delivered across the charity sector over the last year - from Giant Insights and Giant Giving to Bridge, our government-funded digital literacy platform built with Women's Aid, and major builds for clients including Help for Heroes, Whizz Kidz, RSPH, and Claire House Children's Hospice.

We've always believed that charities deserve digital solutions held to the highest standards - of usability, accessibility, and ethical practice. Being recognised in this category feels like a validation of that conviction.

FINALIST - Giant Insights - Platform/Tool of the Year

Giant Insights was built to solve a problem we kept seeing across the charity sector: critical knowledge scattered across systems, buried in documents, and lost when people move on. It connects to the tools charities already use and gives teams a single place to find answers, surface hidden insights, and inform future thinking and direction.

We're proud of what Jon and the team have built - and really pleased to see it recognised here.

FINALIST - Giant Digital and Help for Heroes - Best Use of AI (Client Side)

One of the projects we're most proud of from the last year is the LLM tool we built within Help for Heroes' My Recovery portal. Veterans accessing support face real barriers - digital confidence varies, and the emotional weight of reaching out can make even a well-designed website feel like too much. The tool gives veterans a conversational way to find the right support, with answers drawn entirely from Help for Heroes' own content.

It's a project that only works because of the trust built over years of partnership - and we're delighted that trust has led to something genuinely useful for the people Help for Heroes exists to serve.

FINALIST - Giant Digital - Best Development Agency

Building on Django has always been a deliberate choice - open-source, secure by default, well-documented, and free from proprietary lock-in. What this award recognises is what that foundation makes possible: complex integrations delivered cleanly, systems that hold up under real-world pressure, and builds that client teams can manage and grow with confidence long after launch.

The RSPH project is a good example. Replacing a 17-year agency relationship, the build connected Microsoft Dynamics CRM, a qualifications platform, an LMS, and SSO authentication - all while ensuring continuity for hundreds of accredited centres and thousands of learners. Their response afterwards made it worthwhile: they described working with the team as a refreshing change, and have since expanded into an ongoing roadmap.

FINALIST - Gaby Frylinck - Best UX Designer

Having already been recognised in the BIMA 100 Class of 2026, it's no surprise to see Gaby picking up another well-deserved accolade. The NDA's Best UX Designer category looks for evidence of user-centred thinking, accessibility, and measurable impact - and her work over the last year speaks directly to all three.

From redesigning core user journeys that led to a 112% increase in supporters taking action at Breast Cancer UK, to designing for people arriving at a website in moments of real crisis, her work consistently puts the person at the other end of the screen first.

FINALIST - Giant Digital - Best Agency Team Small (Less than 50 Employees)

A team of 20 people launched a proprietary AI platform, supported Women's Aid in securing government funding for a digital inclusion project, delivered major builds for clients across the sector, achieved CPACC accessibility certification, and expanded Giant Giving with new integrations and formal Beacon accreditation - all in the same year. That's what this award recognises.

But the numbers only tell part of the story. What holds it together is a culture where people genuinely care about the work and about each other. That shows up in how the team communicates, how they handle problems when they arise, and how clients describe the experience of working with them. We're incredibly proud of everyone at Giant - and this feels like the right recognition for a remarkable year.

FINALIST - Lalita D'Cruze - Best Agency Ops Director of the Year

Lally is the operational backbone of everything Giant delivers - building the frameworks, systems, and people-first culture that make our output sustainable. This award recognises exactly that.

In the last year she consolidated the agency's CRM and HRIS into a single open-source platform, cutting annual software costs by 17% with zero downtime. She designed the Future Leaders programme in partnership with BIMA, putting five team members through ILM-accredited Level 3 apprenticeships, all of whom passed with distinction. And she's maintained and extended the people-first policies that make Giant a place where people can do their best work.

None of what Giant achieved this year happens without Lally making sure the foundations are in place.

A note of thanks

Recognition like this matters to us because it reflects the quality of the work and the people behind it. Winning across a category that spans our platforms, our client work, and our team is a reminder of what's possible when everyone is pulling in the same direction.

To everyone at Giant who contributed to the award - thank you. The work speaks for itself, but it only exists because of the people doing it. And to our clients, whose trust and ambition make all of it possible - we're grateful. That kind of partnership is at the heart of everything we do.