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Best of the Internet August 13, 2019

Until a Cure: Celebrating the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

The 19th Annual Webbys honored Pat Quinn and the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge with a Special Achievement Award for having a major impact on ALS awareness. We're looking back at that epic moment (presented by Dave Grohl) and how Pat Quinn's journey has evolved.

This August marks the 5-year anniversary of ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, when creator Pat Quinn started a viral campaign challenging Internet users around the globe to film themselves dumping a bucket of ice water on their heads, share it, and challenge friends to do the same, as a way of soliciting donations for motor neuron disease research.

Did we mention it went viral? After 17 million films, across 159 countries, and 10 billion views, the campaign raised over $220 million for ALS research.

In 2015, Quinn accepted a Webby Special Achievement Award on stage, presented by The Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl (see below).

So this month we’re celebrating Pat’s bravery, vulnerability, and dedication to finding a cure for ALS. To learn more about the disease and how to donate, visit alsa.org.

Unfortunately, three years after the Ice Bucket Challenge’s global impact, Quinn’s own fight with ALS caused him to lose both his voice and mobility in his upper body. He could only communicate through an artificial “computer voice.”

Last year, however, Australian agency BWM Dentsu set out to give back to the man who has advocated for so many. The result? Project Revoice, a recreation of Quinn’s voice using artificial intelligence and audio samples of speeches and interviews he’s given on the Internet.

The touching project won a 2019 Webby Award for Experimental & Innovation in Social. Check out the story of Project Revoice below, and learn more about how the program is giving those with ALS their voices back.

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