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WINNERS OF 15TH ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS ANNOUNCED
New York, NY (May 3, 2011) – Justin Bieber took home his first Webby Award despite comedy website CollegeHumor.com’s Twitter campaign to “steal” votes from the young pop star, their major competition in the Comedy: Individual Short or Episode category. Bieber was just one of a variety of winners at the 15th Annual Webby Awards, which celebrates the best of the Internet. From Twitter to Team Coco: this year’s awards show will honor a wide variety of entrants – in categories such as activism, music, comedy short and sports – for their excellence in website design, interactive advertising, film and video, mobile and apps.
Fifteen winners took home three or more Webby Awards in multiple categories demonstrating the diversity and power of some of the best media, advertising and entertainment concepts this year. Wieden + Kennedy won both the Webby Award and People’s Voice Award for the highly popular social media campaign staring Isaiah Mustafa as the “Old Spice Guy.” The advertising agency is also awarded the “Agency of the Year” for their garnering of the most wins and nominations across all categories.
Star iPhone app, Angry Birds, won both Webby and People’s Voice Awards, insuring that the addicting games will be around for a long time to come. Funny or Die, the comedy website featuring some of Hollywood’s most Internet-savvy stars, won big at this year’s Webbys with eight awards in multiple categories, including Jim Carrey‘s performance in the Presidential Reunion and Zach Galifianakis‘ “Between Two Ferns.” Google Creative Labs and @radical.media scored big for their groundbreaking music videos for Johnny Cash and Arcade Fire‘s “The Wilderness Downtown.” The New York Times once again scored wins in multiple categories including How-To, Travel and Mobile.
Alongside perennial winners like New York Times, ESPN and the Onion, a suite of promising startups were recognized. Flipboard, the social news iPad app that swept the tech world by storm was honored in both the News and Social categories, as was popular NY-location based startup foursquare. Skype and Dropbox were honored in the Best Practices category with a Webby and People’s Voice Award, respectively, and Twitter was the Webby winner in community, marking its third consecutive year as a Webby winner.
Winners will be presented with the Webby Award (as voted on by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences) and the People’s Voice Award (as voted on by the fans) at a special ceremony on Monday, June 13, 2011, at The Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. The Academy, who nominate and select the Webby Award winners, is comprised of Web industry experts, including Internet co-inventor Vint Cerf, Arianna Huffington, Federated Media founder John Battelle and Twitter co-founder Biz Stone.
“This year’s Webby Winners exemplify the type of profound effect the Internet is having on popular culture and the world at large,” said David-Michel Davies, Executive Director of the Webby Awards. “From Arcade Fire’s reinvention of the music video format with The Wilderness Downtown, or the New York Times coverage of revolution in Egypt and the Middle East, the Internet is the driving force of change in the world today.”
Highlights of the 15th Annual Webby Awards winners include:
Winners in Multiple Categories include Funny Or Die (9),
Google Creative Labs (7),
Wieden+Kennedy (7),
@radical.media (5),
Discovery Communications (5),
Goodby, Silverstein, & Partners (4),
MLB Advanced Media, LP (4),
AOL (4),
TED.com (4),
The New York Times (3),
ESPN (3).
Winners boasting star-power include:
Lisa Kudrow‘s “Web Therapy,” (Best Comedy: Long Form, and Best Individual Performance in an Online Video)
Adrian Grenier‘s Shft.com (Webby Award and People’s Voice Award)
Arcade Fire‘s “The Wilderness Downtown,” (Webby and People’s Voice Award for Best Experimental & Weird Video)
Conan O’Brien‘s “Team Coco,” (Webby Award and People’s Voice or Best Celebrity/Fan website)
Zach Galifianakis‘ “Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis,” (Webby Award for Web Personality/Host , Webby Award and People’s Voice Award for Best Online Variety Show, Webby Award and People’s Voice Award for Best Comedy Individual Short or Episode featuring Steve Carell)
Will Ferrell, Jim Carrey, Dana Carvey, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph, Darrell Hammond’s “Funny or Die’s Presidential Reunion” (directed by Ron Howard), (People’s Voice Award for Best Comedy: Long Form or Series)
Snoop Dogg and LL Cool J‘s “Snoop Dogg vs. LL Cool J: The Ultimate Halo Smack Down,” (People’s Voice Award for Best Branded Entertainment)
Jim Carrey‘s “Funny or Die’s Presidential Reunion,” (People’s Voice Award for Best Individual Performance in an Online Video)
Winners of Both a Webby Award and People’s Voice Award include:
Best Editing
Best Homepage
Best Use of GPS/Location Technology
Best Use of Online Media
Best Use of Social Media
Best Tourism Website
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Online
Best Mobile Game
Best Celebrity/Fan Website
Best Green Website
SHFT.com
Best Weird Website
Best Personal Website
Best Web Service and Application
A list of winners in other major categories follows:
Activism
REDU (Webby Award)
Avaaz (People’s Voice Award)
Best Practices
Dropbox (Webby Award)
Skype (People’s Voice Award)
Best Web Personality/Host
Funny or Die’s Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifinakis (Webby Award)
Justine Ezarik for iJustine (People’s Voice Award)
Celebrity/Fan
Team Coco (Webby Award and People’s Voice Award)
Community
OpenIDEO (Webby Award)
Twitter (People’s Voice Award)
Entertainment – Tablets and Other Devices
PBS for iPad (Webby Award)
MythBusters App (People’s Voice Award)
Green
SHFT.com(Webby Award and People’s Voice Award)
Humor
Funny Or Die (Webby Award)
College Humor (People’s Voice Award)
Individual Performance
Web Therapy (Webby Award)
Funny or Die’s Presidential Reunion – Jim Carrey as President Reagan (People’s Voice Award)
Magazine
New Yorker (Webby Award)
National Geographic Magazine (People’s Voice Award)
Personal Blog/Website
What I Made (Webby Award and People’s Voice Award)
Travel – Mobile & Applications
TripIt (Webby Award)
KAYAK Mobile for iPhone (People’s Voice Award)
Television
Boardwalk Empire – Interactive Boardwalk (Webby Award)
Hulu (People’s Voice Award)
Video Remixes/Mashups
CNN Walk Around the World (Webby Award)
Girls Are Bad At Sound Effects (People’s Voice Award)
Viral Video
Rated Awesome (Webby Award)
Bed Intruder Song (People’s Voice Award)
Web Service and Application
Dropbox (Webby Award and People’s Voice Award)
Weird
Awkward Family Photos (Webby Award and People’s Voice Award)
For information on nominees in Webby Awards categories honoring interactive advertising and mobile content, visit www.webbyawards.com.
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 & media, online film & video, and mobile & apps. Established in 1996, the 15th 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: AOL, Aquent, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Ford, Dentyne, Facebook, MLB Advanced Media, Rackspace Hosting, LBi, Buddy Media, YouTube, HP, USA Today, Business Insider, 2advanced.Net, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Time Out New York and Guardian News and Media.
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