Inside The Watty Awards: How Wattpad Is Rewriting The Rules Of Digital Storytelling

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Earlier this month, Wattpad revealed the winners of its 2025 Watty Awards. ScreenRant had the chance to learn more about this year’s awards, Wattpad’s growing impact, and how the world of online writing is evolving.

This year marked the 16th annual Watty Awards, and Wattpad received over 7,000 complete novels as submissions. These stories spanned a variety of genres, including romance, fantasy, mystery, and thriller. Notably, over half of the submitted novels featured main characters from diverse backgrounds. In a poll of the 2025 participants, over 75% believed that participating in the Wattys would help them grow their writing careers.

ScreenRant recently spoke with Alessandra Ferreri, who leads content at Wattpad, about the Watty Awards and how the platform is changing digital storytelling, especially in the romance genre.

While Wattpad hosts many types of stories, romance is hugely popular and is actually reshaping the genre. According to Ferreri, platforms like Wattpad are having a significant impact on how romance novels are written and read.

Platforms like Wattpad have revolutionized the romance genre. Traditionally, stories gained popularity through publishers, but now, reader engagement and excitement drive success. This leads to more diverse and imaginative stories – with fresh takes on familiar themes, unique relationships, and bolder plots. These are often the most popular stories on Wattpad, and they often influence broader trends in pop culture. Wattpad demonstrates how important these stories are to readers, and digital platforms are helping the genre evolve to better reflect what people want.

Wattpad is easier for writers to use than traditional publishing because it has fewer barriers to entry. This naturally leads to a wider range of different voices and stories, something Ferreri specifically discussed.

People often turn to platforms like Wattpad when they don’t see stories that reflect their own lives in mainstream media. On these platforms, they can create the content they want to see and connect with readers who feel the same way. This not only leads to a wider range of stories being told, but it also makes it easier for anyone to become a writer. Because anyone with an internet connection can share their work and find an audience, Wattpad gives a voice to people and communities that might be ignored by traditional publishers, allowing them to share their experiences and perspectives directly.

I recently checked out Behind the Camera, the English-language winner of this year’s Watty Awards, and it really resonated with me. It’s a beautiful love story centering on two women, and the author, Ferreri, shared some insights about…

This year’s winning English-language romance novel, Behind the Camera, tells the story of a hockey player and a photographer who pretend to be a couple. As you can imagine, things get complicated and a bit chaotic as they develop real feelings for each other, ultimately finding their happily ever after. What makes the book truly special is its well-developed characters – not just the main couple, but everyone in the story and the world around them. It also thoughtfully explores important issues like homophobia in sports, while still giving romance readers the emotional connection they’re looking for. It’s a complete and satisfying read.

As a critic, it genuinely saddens me to see how some people still dismiss digital storytelling platforms like Wattpad. It’s a real shame, not just for the genre itself, but for readers who are missing out on some potentially fantastic stories simply because they weren’t published through a traditional publishing house. This idea that digital stories are somehow ‘lesser’ just doesn’t hold water with me.

Ferreri believes these opinions come from not fully understanding the potential of platforms like Wattpad. She clarified:

As a total cinema and story devotee, I’ve always thought digital platforms like Wattpad get a bad rap. Honestly, so much of what’s popular today starts there! Wattpad has become a real launching pad for huge books, the movies and shows they inspire, massive fan communities, and even entire new genres. It’s become this incredibly vibrant, diverse space where all kinds of stories can find an audience. Because it’s built around its community, Wattpad often shows us what readers really want – it’s like a testing ground for what eventually becomes mainstream, giving us a peek into the future of storytelling.

Stories starting online, like on Wattpad, can definitely become very popular. A great example is Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis, which originally began as Star Wars fanfiction inspired by the romance between Rey and Kylo Ren. It was discovered by a literary agent and went on to become a New York Times bestseller.

The story has continued to develop, and is now being adapted into a film. Interestingly, the movie’s lead role is being played by Tom Bateman, who is married to Daisy Ridley, the actress who plays Rey. Bateman has even commented on the connection between Rey and Kylo Ren, a popular pairing among fans known as ‘Reylo’.

This year’s Watty Awards included a new community voting feature, allowing Wattpad readers to share their favorite stories. This highlights Wattpad’s commitment to giving a voice to its community, and resulted in over 12,000 votes. According to Ferreri,

At Wattpad, our community is central to everything we do, so letting readers vote for the awards felt like a logical next step. Readers’ preferences and discussions have always played a big role in which stories become popular, and this new voting feature gave them an official way to participate. This year, with over 10,000 votes cast, it’s clear how involved Wattpad readers are. Combined with our editors’ selections, it helped us discover a lot of amazing stories.

Regarding the inclusion of submissions written in languages other than English, Ferreri shared:

Wattpad is a worldwide platform for sharing stories, and our awards program celebrates that global reach. We have incredibly active and passionate communities of writers and readers who create content in languages other than English. These stories, rooted in diverse cultures and personal experiences, deserve the same recognition as stories written in English. Highlighting these voices is a core part of what Wattpad believes in.

This year, those submissions included English, Filipino, Spanish, and Portuguese entries.

Ferreri also talked about how the growing popularity of AI, especially AI that creates new content, will impact writing in general, and digital storytelling specifically – a topic many are currently thinking about. Ferreri explained:

I’ve found some truly amazing stories on Wattpad, written long before the rise of AI. Storytelling is fundamentally human – a deeply personal and vulnerable act. For a story to truly connect with readers, it needs that genuine emotional truth and creative vision from the author. Of course, technology always influences how we communicate and create. Some writers might use AI to help with things like brainstorming, plot development, or world-building, but Wattpad’s main focus is on celebrating human creativity. It’s a platform for writers to express themselves, not a replacement for them.

If you’re curious about the Watty Awards, or want to check out the stories that won this year, you can head over to the Wattpad page for the 2025 Watty Awards. As a movie buff, I’m always looking for great stories, and this seems like a good place to start!

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2025-12-09 16:45