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For information contact:
Gita Chandra: gita@pkpr.com
Patrick Kowalczyk: patrick@pkpr.com
PKPR, 212.627.8098

WINNERS OF 14th ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS ANNOUNCED;

FOURSQUARE, TWITTER, MASHABLE, DARYL HALL,

BRAD PITT'S MAKE IT RIGHT AND JIM CARREY AMONG WEBBY WINNERS

Roger Ebert, OK Go, Amy Poehler, and
Internet co-inventor Vinton Cerf to be honored for special achievement

http://www.webbyawards.com



New York, NY (MAY 4, 2010) - Foursquare, Twitter, Jim Carrey, Daryl Hall, and The Muppets are just some of the Webby winners who will be saluted alongside special achievement honorees Roger Ebert, OK Go, Amy Poehler, and Internet co-inventor Vinton Cerf at the 14th Annual Webby Awards, organizers announced today.

Academy judges like Martha Stewart, Matt Groening, and Arianna Huffington selected Webby Awards winners, while people around the world chose the winners of The Webby People's Awards. Setting a new Webby record, nearly one million votes were cast in a spirited competition that saw upstarts like Next New Network's Reel Good Show (Variety Video), Texts from Last Night (Mobile Entertainment), and College Humor's Amir Blumenfeld (Individual Performance) emerge victorious over more powerful finalists.

Organizers also announced its initial list of Internet innovators who will be recognized with Webby Special Achievement Awards. Joining the ranks of such past recipients as Al Gore, David Bowie, and Prince, they are:

  • Webby Person of the Year: Roger Ebert has raised the bar for online journalism and writing through his poignant and wildly popular blog, Roger Ebert's Journal (http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/). Using his blog as a platform for thoughtful discussion on film, media, politics, and life itself, Ebert has found a powerful new voice and attracted an audience that thrives on vigorous debate and conversation.

  • Webby Film & Video Artist of the Year: OK Go has rewritten the rock & roll rule book by harnessing the creative and viral power of Internet video to reach new audiences and achieve critical acclaim. Their iconic treadmill video for "Here It Goes Again" has been viewed more than 50 million times, while its Rube Goldberg video homage - "This Too Shall Pass" - has surpassed 12 million views in just two months.

  • Best Actress: In her groundbreaking online series, "Smart Girls at the Party," Amy Poehler has taken a simple concept - interviews with ambitious young girls - to unexpectedly entertaining new heights. Thanks to Poehler's sweet, wry, and subtle humor, the series demonstrates the Internet's ability to engage and empower a young audience.

  • Webby Lifetime Achievement Award: Widely respected as the co-inventor of the Internet, Vinton Cerf designed the TCP/IP protocols and basic architecture that laid the groundwork for the creation of the Internet. From his pioneering work at Stanford University in the 1970s to his current role as Chief Internet Evangelist for Google, Cerf continues to shape Internet commerce, communication and culture.

    • "It's exciting to honor breakouts like foursquare, Tumblr, and Twitter alongside the man who helped invent the Internet, Vint Cerf," said David-Michel Davies, executive director, The Webby Awards. "That's what makes the Webby Awards and the Internet so special. It's a place where both newcomers like Evernote and Auto-Tune the News and veterans like The New York Times and Isabella Rossellini can experiment, take risks, and push the medium in new directions."

    Hosted by B.J. Novak of NBC's The Office, the 14th Annual Webby Awards ceremony will feature winners and honorees delivering five-word speeches in the tradition of past Webby victors like Beastie Boys ("Can anyone fix my computer?") and Jimmy Fallon ("Thank God Conan got promoted"). Speeches and ceremony highlights will be broadcast on the Webby Awards YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/TheWebbyAwards). The ceremony will also mark the culmination of Internet Week New York 2010, a weeklong festival celebrating digital culture that's expected to draw 20,000 people to over 100 events throughout New York City.

    Highlights of the 14th Annual Webby Awards winners include:

  • Multiple winners are: College Humor (5); New York Times (5); The Muppets Studio (4); National Geographic (4); CBS Interactive (4); Sundance Channel (4); HBO (4); Twitter (3); Next New Networks (3); TED.com (3); VBS.tv (3); AOL (3); and Mashable (3).

  • Winners boasting star-power include: JimCarrey.com (Celebrity/Fan), Lisa Kudrow in "Web Therapy" (Comedy Series); Isabella Rosselini in "Green Porno" (Individual Performance, Experimental & Weird); Brad Pitt's Make It Right (Activism), Daryl Hall's "Live from Daryl's House" (Variety Video), DavidLynch.com's Interview Project (Documentary Series), Colbert Nation (Television); and Jaime Pressley in Axe's "Clean Your Balls" (Viral Marketing).

  • Achieving both critical and popular consensus, 38 works won both a Webby Award and a People's Voice Award including: Auto-Tune the News (Video Remixes/Mash-ups); Colbert Nation (Television); Evernote (Mobile Applications); Mint.com (Financial Service); Pandora (Music); Flickr (Community); foursquare (Mobile Social Networking); Hulu (Broadband); Jim Carrey (Celebrity/Fan); The Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody (Viral Video, Music Video); Twitter (Social Networking); and DavidLynch.com Interview Project (Documentary Series).

  • The judges and public parted ways in several popular categories: For Best Weird, the Academy chose Selleck Waterfall Sandwich, while fans selected FAIL Blog. For Best Political Blog, judges embraced Truthdig, while the public voted for Huffington Post. For Personal Blog, Broken Secrets earned the public's top votes, while Indexed was selected by the judges.

    • A list of winners in notable categories follows:

    Viral Video
    The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY (Webby and People's Voice)

    Video Remixes/Mashups
    Auto-Tune the News - http://www.barelypolitical.com/remix/episode/BP_20090903/auto-tune-the-news-8-with-t-pain (Webby and People's Voice)

    Individual Performance
    Isabella Rossellini in Green Porno - http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno (Webby)
    Amir Blumenfeld - http://www.collegehumor.com/jakeandamir (People's Voice)

    Celebrity/Fan
    Jim Carrey Official Site http://www.jimcarrey.com (Webby and People's Voice)

    Documentary Series
    Davidlynch.Com Presents Interview Project http://interviewproject.davidlynch.com (Webby and People's Voice)

    Variety Video
    Live From Daryl's House http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/ (Webby)
    Reel Good Show http://www.indymogul.com/reelgood (People's Voice)

    Comedy: Individual Short or Episode
    The Onion - http://www.theonion.com/content/video/sony_releases_new_stupid_piece_of (Webby)
    Web Site Story - http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1913584 (People's Voice)

    Comedy: Long Form or Series
    Web Therapy II - http://www.lstudio.com (Webby)
    Jake and Amir - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs (Webby)
    Axe "Clean Your Balls" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bevJr3Ra84Q (People's Voice)

    Activism
    Make it Right - http://makeitrightnola.org/ (Webby)
    Renew the world - http://www.stemcellfoundation.ca (People's Voice)

    Best Practices
    Twitter - http://twitter.com (Webby)
    NPR - http://www.npr.org (People's Voice)

    Mobile Social Networking
    Foursquare - http://foursquare.com (Webby and People's Voice)

    Mobile Application
    Evernote - http://www.evernote.com (Webby and People's Voice)

    Weird
    Selleck Waterfall Sandwich - http://www.selleckwaterfallsandwich.tumblr.com (Webby)
    FAIL Blog - http://www.failblog.org (People's Voice)

    Personal Blog/Website
    Indexed - http://www.thisisindexed.com (Webby)
    Broken Secrets http://brokensecrets.com/ (People's Voice)

    Humor
    The Onion - http://www.theonion.com (Webby and People's Voice)

    Broadband
    Hulu - http://www.hulu.com (Webby and People's Voice)

    Television
    Colbert Nation - http://www.colbertnation.com (Webby and People's Voice)

    Best Web Service and Application
    Tumblr - http://tumblr.com (Webby)
    99designs.com - http://99designs.com (People's Voice)

    For information on nominees in Webby Awards categories honoring interactive advertising and mobile content, visit www.webbyawards.com/press/press-releases.php.

    About The Webby Awards:

    Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile web sites. Established in 1996, the 13th Annual Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Sponsors and Partners of The Webby Awards include: Microsoft Expression; Aol; YouTube; Pepsi; Aquent; Yahoo!; HP; Corbis Images; Tribal DDB Worldwide; East Media; IDG; PricewaterhouseCoopers; 2advanced.Net; KobeMail; Museum of the Moving Image; Behance; Business Insider; Time Out New York; paidContent and The Guardian.

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