The Webby Awards, often dubbed the Oscarsof the Internet, has announced its latest batch of award winners, with Vine, Airbnb, Kickstarter and Vimeo among this year’s winners for their services to digital media. Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel won the Viral Video award for his “Twerk Fail” clip, which, as he proudly mentioned on his show, was broadcast on dozens of news networks before the late night host revealed that it was a fake (see below).
Hailed as the "one of the most prestigious awards in the world" by the BBC and 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, online film and video, interactive advertising, and mobile Websites.
The awards are broken down into two categories. The Webby Award winners are selected by judges from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, including Tumblr Founder David Karp, House of Cards producer and star Kevin Spacey, and media mogul Arianna Huffington.
The Webby People's Voice Awards are selected by Internet users from more than 200 countries worldwide.
This year, more than half a million people participated in the voting, which ended last Thursday.
Vice Media (7), Google (5), and Tumblr (4) all scored multiple wins in the People's Voice categories.
Funny or Die got three awards, including the Webby and People’s Voice awards for Zach Galifianakis’ talk-show-gone-wrong web series Between Two Ferns. Jerry Seinfeld’s series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, also took home both the Webby and People’s Voice awards for best individual performance.
Other big-name winners included HBO Go for the media streaming Webby, Vine for the social media Webby, CollegeHumor’s “Penguin vs. Batman” for the comedy individual short Webby, and the Jamaican Bobsled Team for the athlete of the year Webby.
Some of the key Webby Award Winners are listed below:
• Best Social Game — QuizUp
• Best Use of Mobile — Vine
• Best User Experience, Best Visual Design: Function — Medium
• Best Entertainment Channel — Vimeo
• Best Business Blog — Mashable
• Best Travel Website, Best Travel App — Airbnb
• Best Community Website, Best Social Application — Tumblr
• Webby Breakout of the Year — Kickstarter
• Webby Athlete of the Year: The Jamaican Bobsled Team (crowdfunded trip to Sochi)
• Best Viral Video — Jimmy Kimmel Reveals “Worst Twerk Fail EVER: Girl Catches Fire” Prank
The Webby Awards Ceremony, hosted by Patton Oswalt, will be available for streaming at WebbyAwards.com May 20.
