Webby Awards recognize online achievements
The envelopes have been opened and the red carpet rolled away, but award season isn’t over yet, at least not as far as the Internet is concerned.
The Webby Awards, which were established in 1996, will soon announce winners for their 17th annual awards program recognizing over 100 categories, in both a judges’ selection and people’s choice honors.
“Every year we are constantly amazed by the innovations Webby Nominees push forward, and this year is no exception," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of The Webby Awards. "This year's nominees reflect a new personal and pervasive Internet where friends and people we trust are our curators, and mobile devices stretch the network into the most discreet places in our lives. It is truly an Internet made by everyone, accessed from anywhere."
For the honors awarded by judging, decisions are made by a more than 1,000-member group for the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, according to the organization’s website.
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The Webby Awards will honor companies and Internet inventors in categories somewhat unique to the Internet such as best mobile media streaming, best social-media campaign and best weird site. Other categories viewers might expect from an awards show include best individual performance, best comedy longform or series, and best writing.
This year’s nominees also include viral hits from the past year, including CollegeHumor’s video first circulated in November, “Gay Men Will Marry Your Girlfriends” and “Bad Lip Reading” which gained popularity during the 2012 presidential election season by dubbing comedic dialogue over the final debates between Mitt Romney and President Obama.
The winners for both the judge-selected Webby Awards and the People’s Voice awards will be announced April 30, and an awards ceremony will be broadcast live on May 21 hosted by actor and comedian Patton Oswalt.
The broadcast will be live-streamed online at WebbyAwards.com.
Voting for the 'People’s Voice' segment runs through April 25.
Jacob Hawkins is a Spring 2013 Paste BN Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about him here.
This story originally appeared on the Paste BN College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.