Webby Film & Video
Nominees Spotlight
Rapidly-Changing Media
Landscape
New
York, NY (April 8, 2008)
The Webby Film & Video
Awards today
unveiled
a slate of nominees
ranging from cult comedy
series to political
parodies
to mainstream news,
reflecting a changing
media landscape where
Web-based upstarts go
head-to-head with big
media companies.
Hailed
as the "Oscars of the
Internet," The Webby
Film and Video Awards
are
the
leading industry awards
honoring original film
and video premiering on
the
Internet. The Webby Film
& Video Awards are
judged by more than 80
entertainment industry
leaders, including
Showtime chief Matt
Blank, 20th
Century
Fox Chairman Jim
Gianopoulos, "Simpsons"
creator Matt Groening,
Leading
the list of nominees is
The New York Times with
9 nominations,
followed
by National Geographic
and PBS, which earned
five nods each. The
Onion
News Network scored four
nominations, while NPR
scored three, as did
comedy
powerhouse SuperDeluxe,
including two for its
series "Bronx World
Travelers." CollegeHumor,
My Damn Channel, CBS,
and MTV were all
nominated in two
categories each.
A list
of all Webby Film and
Video nominees in more
than 20 categories can
be
"The Web
has leveled the field at
every stage from
creation to
distribution,
making
the medium more
accessible than ever to
both producers and
audiences alike," said
David-Michel Davies, the
executive director of
The
Webby
Awards. "From big media
companies like the New
York Times to the up-
and
coming filmmakers behind
"Good Night Burbank",
what sets this year's
nominees
apart is their ability
to take full advantage
of those changes."
Unlike
other awards shows,
where only judges choose
the winners, The
Webby
Awards also give the
global Web community an
opportunity to decide
who will
take home a Webby.
Starting today through
May 1, the public can
cast
their votes in The Webby
People's Voice Awards
presented by Nokia at
Winners
will be announced on May
6th, 2008 and honored at
a star-studded
ceremony
in New York City on June
9th. All winners will
take to the stage to
deliver
the Webbys' famous
five-word speeches. Past
headline-grabbing
speeches
include Jessica Rose,
a.k.a. lonelygirl15
("Being traditional and
saying
thanks."), The Office
Webisode's Angela Kinsey
("Accounting is a such
a
riot."), and the
creators of The Extreme
Diet Coke and Mentos
Experiment
("18,000,000 views.
Still no dates.")
Other
trends and highlights
among The Webby Film and
Video Awards
•
Presidential politics
play out in "I Got a
Crush on Obama" (Best
Viral),
which catapulted Obama
Girl to icon status;
"23/6" (Best Comedy:
Long
Form or Series), a
parody of the 2004
presidential election's
infamous
Swift
Boat ads; and The Onion
News Network (4
nominations), whose fake
newscasts skewered the
presidential primary
with headlines such
as
"Candidates Compete for
Vital Idgit Vote."
•
Four-time nominee
"Hometown Baghdad," a
moving web series about
life in
Baghdad that shares the
stories of three young
Iraqis struggling to
survive
in wartime. The series
is nominated for Best
Editing, Best News &
Politics, Best Reality,
and Best Public Service
& Activism.
• Online
video continues to be a
breeding ground for
comedy
innovation. Notable
nominees for Best Comedy
Series include: "Wainy
Days"
from
director David Wain (Wet
Hot American Summer)
starring Paul Rudd,
Rashida
Jones, and others;
23/6's "Swift Kids for
Truth"; "Goodnight
Burbank"; The Onion News
Network; and "You Suck
at Photoshop".
• This
year's Best Viral
nominee list is
comprised of five
unknowns
turned
overnight sensations:
"Chocolate Rain"; the
stop-motion
smackdown "Tony vs.
Paul"; "BalconyTV" from
Dublin, Ireland; the
Richter
Scales's
"Here Comes Another
Bubble"; and the
ubiquitous "I Got a
Crush on
For the
first time this year,
Webby Film & Video
Awards will receive a
Nokia
Nseries
multimedia device. To
give the world a
first-hand,
behind-the-scenes
look at
this year's Webby
Awards, the film- and
video-makers will use
the
devices
to document their Webby
experiences in "We Shot
the Webbys," an
online
video campaign to
premiere this June.
For
information on nominees
in other Webby Awards
categories, including
Websites, interactive
advertising, and mobile
content, visit
tabulation consulting
for The Webby Awards.
Hailed
as the "Oscars of the
Internet" by the New
York Times, The Webby
Awards
is the leading
international award
honoring excellence on
the Internet,
including Web sites,
interactive advertising,
online film and video,
and mobile
web
sites. Established in
1996, the 12th Annual
Webby Awards received
nearly
10,000 entries from all
50 states and over 60
countries worldwide. The
Webby
Awards is presented by
The International
Academy of Digital Arts
and
Sciences. Sponsors and
Partners of The Webby
Awards include: Adobe;
The
Creative
Group; Nokia; .ORG;
Level 3; Getty Images;
The Barbarian Group;
Adweek;
Variety; Wired; IDG:
Brightcove;
PricewaterhouseCoopers;
2advanced.Net; KobeMail
and Museum of the Moving
Image.
