There was a time when the annual Webby Awards for online excellence went mostly to offbeat and quirky sites. That's less and less so as the years pass, and this year it's less so than ever.
The mainstream media, from The New York Times to ESPN.com, dominated this year's 12th annual Webby awards, which were announced yesterday.
Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert earned Webby Person of the Year for how he uses the internet in innovative ways to interact with fans of “The Colbert Report.” Colbert, whose network is owned by Viacom, was also recognized for raising more than $250,000 online for education.
Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am received a special achievement award for his viral video sensation supporting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama called “Yes We Can,” while “Be Kind Rewind” film director Michel Gondry was recognized as Webby Film and Video Person of the Year for his storytelling abilities and for inspiring filmmakers to recreate movies and put them online.
The New York Times' online unit came out on top with the most Webbys at eight for news, mobile listings and even animation, among others.
The Onion satire web site earned seven awards, followed by National Geographic magazine’s web site, Apple and PostSecret, a user-confession web site, with four each.
Coming in with three awards each were the British Broadcasting Corp., ESPN.com, CondeNet, Hometown Baghdad, “You Suck at Photoshop,” Flickr, FastCheck.org and TED.com.
Among this year’s biggest winners, Flickr was the only repeat winner from last year, when social networking sites dominated the awards.
Other winners included The Huffington Post for best political blog, ABC.com for best broadband and KidsHealth.org for best family/parenting site. All three won a Webby as well as the People’s Voice award.
The awards, which are known for their five-word-limit acceptance speeches, will be presented in New York on June 9 and 10.
Here's the complete list of the Webby winners:
Activism
RF Interactive, loveisrespect.org
http://loveisrespect.org
Art
The Museum of Modern Art, Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years
http://moma.org/serra
Associations
The Australian Channel, SkillsOne
http://www.skillsone.com.au
Automotive
Henderson Bas, Toyota - FJ Cruiser
http://yyzwork.com/2006/toyotafjcruiser
Banking/Bill Paying
Lending club, Lending Club
http://www.lendingclub.com
Beauty and Cosmetics
Amnesia Group, The Lynx Effect
http://www.lynxeffect.com.au/
Best Copy/Writing
Conde Net, Wired.com
http://www.wired.com
Best Home/Welcome Page
Platinum Creative @ Full Sail, The Los Angeles Film School
http://www.lafilm.com/flash/index...
Best Navigation/Structure
TED Conferences, TED.com
http://www.ted.com
Best Practices
Flickr
http://www.flickr.com
Best Use of Animation or Motion Graphics
AKQA, Happiness Factory - Now Hiring
http://www.coke.com/hf
Best Use of Photography
National Geographic Magazine, Your Shot - National Geographic Magazine
http://ngm.com/yourshot
Best Use of Typography
Veer, Type City
http://www.veer.com/typecity
Best Use of Video or Moving Image
Apple, Apple
http://www.apple.com
Best Visual Design – Aesthetic
Sennep, Checkland Kindleysides
http://www.checklandkindleysides.com
Best Visual Design – Function
TED Conferences, TED.com
http://www.ted.com
Blog – Business
Financial Times, FT.com Alphaville
http://ftalphaville.ft.com
Blog – Culture/Personal
PostSecret, PostSecret
http://postsecret.blogspot.com
Blog – Political
The Huffington Post, The Huffington Post
http://huffingtonpost.com
Broadband
ABC.com, ABC.com Full Episode Player
http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streami...
Celebrity/Fan
Hyperlaunch, Annie Lennox Official Website
http://www.annielennox.com
Charitable Organizations Nonprofit
Open Society Institute, Katrina: An Unnatural Disaster
http://www.katrinamedia.org
Community
Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/
Consumer Electronics
Hakuhodo I-studio, It's D
http://award.i-studio.co.jp/2007_...
Corporate
Communications
Valve Branding Ltd, UPM Forest Life
http://www.upmforestlife.com
Cultural Institutions
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Design for the Other 90%
http://other90.cooperhewitt.org
Education
The Earth Institute at Columbia University, The Earth Institute at Columbia University
http://www.earth.columbia.edu
Employment
bbdigital (Blattner Brunner), Consol Energy Recruiting Website
http://www.consolcareers.com/
Events
Yolk Pte Ltd, Got Character?
http://www.gotcharacter.sg
Family/Parenting
Nemours Center for Children's Health Media, KidsHealth
http://KidsHealth.org
Fashion
OgilvyInteractive, Louis Vuitton Core Values
http://journeys.louisvuitton.com
Financial Services
Zopa, zopa.com
http://zopa.com
Food and Beverage
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Milk Get the Glass Site
http://www.gettheglass.com
Games
Kongregate, Kongregate
http://www.kongregate.com
Games – Related
Themis Group Inc, The Escapist
http://www.escapistmagazine.com
Government
Threespot Media, Peace Corps {teens}
http://www.peacecorps.gov/teens/
Guides/Ratings/Reviews
Yelp, Yelp
http://www.yelp.com
Health
MediaFront, Try Drugs
http://www.trydrugs.net
Humor
The Onion, The Onion
http://www.theonion.com
Insurance
Starring, Your own world
http://misc.starring.se/competiti...
IT Hardware/Software
Pappas Group, CSG
http://www.csgsystems.com/content...
Law
Pinsent Masons, OUT-LAW.COM
http://www.out-law.com
Lifestyle
Operation Homefront/CinCHouse.com, CinCHouse.com
http://www.cinchouse.com
Magazine
National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Magazine Online
http://ngm.com
Movie and Film
65 Media, Simpsons Movie
http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/awards
Music
Agency Republic, BBC Radio 1 Meet the DJs
http://agencyrepublic.net/awards/...
Netart
PostSecret, PostSecret
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
News
NYTimes.com, NYTimes.com
http://nytimes.com/
Newspaper
NYTimes.com, NYTimes.com
http://nytimes.com/
Personal Web Site
Number 27, The Whale Hunt
http://thewhalehunt.org
Pharmaceuticals
Greater Than One, Estroven
http://estroven.com
Podcasts
TED Conferences, TED.com
http://www.ted.com
Politics
FactCheck.org, FactCheck.org
http://www.FactCheck.org
Professional Services
Vermilion, Action Marketing Group Corporate Website
http://www.action-marketing-group...
Radio
BBC World Service, BBC World Service channel site
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/
Real Estate
Zillow.com, Zillow.com
http://www.zillow.com
Religion and Spirituality
American Public Media, Speaking of Faith
http://speakingoffaith.org
Restaurant
Magnitude, Me and My Bod
http://www.meandmybod.com/
Retail
Trapeze / ZIG, Ikea Mattress
http://www.ikea.ca/mattresses
School
Platinum Creative @ Full Sail, The Los Angeles Recording School
http://www.recordingcareer.com/fl...
Science
Nature Publishing Group, nature.com
http://www.nature.com
Self-Promotion/Portfolio
RED Interactive Agency, RED Universe
http://ff0000.com/
Services
Blurb, Blurb
http://www.blurb.com
Social Networking
Flock, Flock The Social Web Browser
http://www.flock.com
Sports
Yahoo!, Yahoo! Sports
http://sports.yahoo.com/
Student
Columbia University, Defining Middle Ground: The Next Generation of Muslim New Yorkers
http://definingmiddleground.com
Telecommunications
Wetpaint, Sidekick Wiki
http://sidekick.wetpaint.com
Television
Big Spaceship / BBDO NY, HBO Voyeur
http://www.hbovoyeur.com
Tourism
Daddy Identity Department, Furuviksparken
http://www.furuvik.se
Travel
Farecast, Inc., Farecast
http://www.farecast.com
Weird
passiveaggressivenotes.com, Passive-Aggressive Notes
http://passiveaggressivenotes.com
Youth
HUGE, Scholastic Site Redesign
http://www.scholastic.com
