Webby Award

A Webby Award is an award for excellence on the Internet presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over one thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories include websites, advertising & media, online film & video, mobile sites & apps, and social.

Two winners are selected in each category, one by members of The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, and one by the public who cast their votes during Webby People’s Voice voting. Each winner presents a five-word acceptance speech, a trademark of the annual awards show.

Hailed as the "Internet’s highest honor," the award is one of the older internet-oriented awards, and is associated with the phrase "The Oscars of the Internet."

History

The Webby Awards began in 1996, sponsored by the Academy of Web Design and Cool Site of the Day. The first Webby Awards were produced by Kay Dangaard at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel as a nod to the first site of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars). That first year, they were called "Webbie" Awards. The first "Site of the Year" winner was the pioneer webisodic serial The Spot.

2000 Webby Awards

Held in San Francisco's Masonic Center for a crowd of 3,000 invited guests, the 2000 Webby Awards were widely considered the peak of the Webby Awards and a watershed of dot com party culture. The event took place May 11, 2000, shortly before many of the event's perennial nominees and participants suffered business failures in the dot com crash.

The attendant ceremony and surrounding events were described in the press as "Hollywood-style" and a "bacchanal.". Others complained that the event was too serious and less fun than in its earlier, freewheeling days, and was too much of a "corporate mixer."Alan Cumming was the master of ceremonies. The theme was The Time Machine, from the H. G. Wells novel. Pre-awards entertainment included guest "fluffers" with feather dusters, fake paparazzi who would excitedly take pictures of arriving guests, and dance troupes from Project Bandaloop scaling and rappelling down the face of the theater building to Capacitor delivering awards. Some nominees dressed up as astronauts carrying their corporate banners as flags, and in headdresses and silver metallic wigs. Google's representatives arrived in costume as they had the year before, rolling onstage in inline skates to accept their award.Guerrilla marketers from companies that did not get into the event stood on the sidewalk outside to attract attention.

2007 Webby Awards

The 11th annual 2007 Webby Awards were held in New York City on June 3, 2007. They were hosted by comedian Rob Corddry and were judged by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. The ceremony saw 8,000 entries from over 60 countries and all 50 United States. Lifetime achievement awards were given to David Bowie and YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. This award ceremony for the first time introduced category awards beyond Websites in the three new super-categories: Interactive Advertising, Mobile & Apps, and Online Film & Video.

Nominees and winners

External links

Notes

Winners and nominees are generally named according to the organization or website winning the award, although the recipient is, technically, the web design firm or internal department that created the winning site and in the case of corporate websites, the designer's client. Web links are provided for informational purposes, both in the most recently available archive.org version before the awards ceremony and, where available, the current website. Many older websites no longer exist, are redirected, or have been substantially redesigned.

2010 Webby Awards

The 14th annual 2010 Webby Awards were held in New York City on June 14, 2010. They were hosted by comedian B. J. Novak, and the lifetime achievement award was given to Vinton Cerf. The awards were judged by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

The set design for the show was provided by Tribal DDB Worldwide in an attempt to change the show's image by emphasizing the competitive nature of the awards, calling the ceremony "The Battle for Web Supremacy." EastMedia also altered the website to reflect The People's Voice campaign. As a result, the number of popular votes this year exceeded 900,000 and there were over 1 million site views (10% from social media). As in previous years, the awards ceremony was made available for viewers via the official Webby YouTube channel.

Nominees and winners

External links

Notes

Winners and nominees are generally named according to the organization or website winning the award, although the recipient is, technically, the web design firm or internal department that created the winning site and in the case of corporate websites, the designer's client. Web links are provided for informational purposes, both in the most recently available archive.org version before the awards ceremony and, where available, the current website. Many older websites no longer exist, are redirected, or have been substantially redesigned.