2009 Webby Awards Announced

The winners of the 2009 Webby Awards were announced today, and the honors are going to a diverse range of online properties, from old media learning new tricks (The New York Times, National Public Radio) to online-only sites like Mint.com and YouTube LIVE.

As the Webbys organizers noted, "Winners receiving the prestigious title of the best of the Web have been selected in over 100 Website, Interactive Advertising, Mobile and Film & Video categories." And the categories range from best typography to best use of video, and include specialties including a wide variety of topics from fan/celebrity sites to automotive, and everything in between.

National Public Radio (NPR) proudly noted that it won the most awards overall, seven, with The New York Times coming in second with six. I'm a fan of NPR's extensive offerings in live music streaming and podcasting, and it's no surprise that NPR snagged Webbys for best radio site and best music site, among other things, as well as People's Voice for best radio site, best music site, and best podcasts.

(You can find the Webbys press release here.)

The Webby Special Achievement Award Winners were also announced today, recognizing "a pioneering group of entertainers who have utilized the Internet in creative, thought-provoking and cutting-edge ways." TV host Jimmy Fallon took The Webby Person of the Year Award, Sarah Silverman won for Best Actress, Trent Reznor of the Nine Inch Nails was named Webby Artist of the Year.

Microblogging site Twitter was named Breakout of The Year; Lisa Kudrow was selected for Outstanding Comedic Performance in "Web Therapy;" and "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane was tabbed as Webby Film & Video Person of the Year.

The Webby awards will be presented in a ceremony in New York on June 8th. In keeping with Webbys tradition, acceptance speeches will be limited to five words.

2008 Webby Awards Winner Announced

The winners of the 2008 Webby awards have been announced, recognizing the best work being done on Web site content and design. You can find all the Webby winners here, but here's a quick recap of the categories that Podcast Party readers will be likely interested in. In some categories I've also listed the People's Voice winner.

BROADBAND: ABC.com Full Episode Player - http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing

CELEBRITY/FAN: Annie Lennox Official Website - http://www.annielennox.com

COMMUNITY: Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/

MOVIE AND FILM: Simpsons Movie - http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/awards

MUSIC: BBC Radio 1 Meet the DJs - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/djs

PODCASTS: TED.com - http://www.ted.com (People's Voice Winner: The Onion - http://www.theonion.com)

RADIO: BBC World Service channel site - http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/ (People's Voice Winner: AccuTunes (from AccuRadio) - http://www.accutunes.com)

I have to admit, I'd never heard of TED, the winner in the Podcast category. Apparently it produces conferences about business and environment issues. And AccuTunes I have heard of, but don't know much about. Being a big music fan, I'll have to check that one out.