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12th ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS UNVEIL NOMINEES FOR
BEST WEBSITES, VIDEOS, AND ADS OF THE YEAR
Starting Today, Global Web Community Can Vote for Winners in
Webby People’s Voice Awards Presented by Nokia
New York, NY (April 8, 2008)- In keeping with its famous five-word acceptance speech limit, The 12th Annual Webby Awards nominees unveiled today can be summed up simply as: “More power to the people.”
From sharing opinions and ideas with millions worldwide to impacting global affairs, many of the nominees reveal how people are going online to reshape politics and re-energize the democratic process.
The list includes pop-culture phenomena like “I Got a Crush on Obama” (Viral Video) and 23/6’s “Swift Kids for Truth” (Comedy: Long Form or Series), global gabfests like The Guardian’s “Comment is Free” (Blog – Political), and innovative advocacy tools such as “Eyes on Darfur” (Activism), micro-lending service Kiva (Charitable Organization / Non-Profit), and political money-tracker MAPLight (Politics).
A full list of all nominees in more than 100 categories can be found at: http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/.
“This year more than ever, we’ve really begun to see the Internet live up to its early promise of empowering people,” said David-Michel Davies, executive director of The Webby Awards. “Many of this year’s nominees are taking politics and advocacy to an entirely new level, making it more fun, meaningful, and exciting than ever before.”
Hailed as the “OSCARS® of the Internet” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, online film and video, interactive advertising, and mobile Websites. The Webby Awards is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 550-person judging academy whose members include Internet co-inventor Vinton Cerf, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, “Simpson’s” creator Matt Groening, and Harvey Weinstein.
Unlike other awards shows, where only judges choose the winners, The Webby Awards also give the global Web community an opportunity to decide who will take home a Webby. Starting today through May 1, the public can cast their votes in The Webby People’s Voice Awards presented by Nokia at http://pv.webbyawards.com.
Winners will be announced on May 6th, 2008 and honored at two star-studded ceremonies in New York City: The Webby Film & Video Awards on June 9th and The Webby Awards Gala on June 10th. All winners will take to the stage to deliver their speeches in just five words. Past headline-grabbing speechmakers include Al Gore (“Please don’t recount this vote”), Beastie Boys (“Can anyone fix my computer?”), and Prince (“Everything you think is true.”)
Other highlights of the 12th Annual Webby Awards nominees include:
– The Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from more than 60 countries. Nominees hail from 24 nations, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, and the U.K.
– Leading the list with 16 nominations is The New York Times, followed by NPR.org (8). Other multiple nominees include PBS.org (7), Conde Net (6), The Onion (6), Hometown Baghdad (4), BBC.co.uk (4), TED.com (3), Apple.com (3), CNN.com (3), Guardian.co.uk (3), Flickr (3), and SuperDeluxe.com (3).
– Breakouts this year include: the grammatically challenged cats of I Can Has Cheezburger? (Humor and Weird), Passive-Aggressive Notes (Weird), Trevor the Mentos Intern (Online Guerilla Marketing), Indexed (Cultural Blog), Vice.tv (Broadband), MOO (Retail and Service), and Farecast (Travel).
– The nominees for Best Practices – Digg, Facebook, Flickr, NYTimes.com, and Yelp – represent the leading edge of new technologies and trends reshaping the Web.
– The Best Viral nominee list is comprised of five unknowns turned overnight sensations: “I Got a Crush on Obama”; “Chocolate Rain”; the stop-motion smackdown “Tony vs. Paul”; “BalconyTV” from Dublin, Ireland; and the Richter Scales’s “Here Comes Another Bubble”.
– Online video continues to be a breeding ground for comedy innovation. Notable nominees for Best Comedy Series include: “Wainy Days” from director David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer) starring Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones, and others; 23/6’s “Swift Kids for Truth,” “Goodnight Burbank”, The Onion News Network, and “You Suck at Photoshop”.
– In the Social Networking category, heavyweights Facebook and Bebo are up against up-and-comers ChangeEverything.ca, Flock The Social Web Browser, and Ning.
– Several agencies received multiple nominations including: Tribal DDB (7), Media Front (5), Crispin Porter + Bogusky (4), R/GA (4), Wieden + Kennedy (3), Grand Union (3), AKQA (3), and McCann Erickson (3). Of the big four advertising holding companies, Ominicom is the frontrunner with 13 nominations, followed by Interpublic (7), Publicis (3), and WPP (3).
For information on nominees in other Webby Awards categories, including film and video, interactive advertising, and mobile content, visit www.webbyawards.com/press/press-releases/. PricewaterhouseCoopers provides vote tabulation consulting for The Webby Awards.
About The Webby Awards:
Hailed as the “OSCARS® of the Internet” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Web sites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile web sites. Established in 1996, the 12th Annual Webby Awards received a record 9,500 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: Adobe; The Creative Group; .ORG; The Barbarian Group; Level3; Adweek; Fortune; Variety; Wired; IDG: Brightcove; PricewaterhouseCoopers; 2advanced.Net; KobeMail and Museum of the Moving Image.
OSCAR® is a federally registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Webby Awards and the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences are in no way affiliated with or sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences or OSCAR®.
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