Australia picks up 8 Webby Winners + 7 People’s Voice Awards at the 22nd Annual Webby Awards
The winners of the 22nd Annual Webby Awards have been announced with a major haul from Australia with eight Webby Winner Awards and eight People’s Voice Awards.
Alt.VFX has scored two Webby Winner Awards and one People’s Voice for Tile ‘Lost Panda’ via Deutsch LA. Republic of Everyone also scored a Webby Winner and People’s Voice for Hort Innovation ‘Plant Life Balance’.
Australian Webby Winners include Ogilvy Sydney for IBM ‘Outthink Melanoma’, Host/Havas for Fund for Peace ‘The Bottom 100’, VML Sydney for McDonald’s ‘Snaplications’, CHE Proximity, for Cochlear ‘The Hearing Test in Disguise’, The Monkeys for MLA ‘Celebrate Australia and Isobar for Roadshow Films’ ‘American Assassin’.
Australian agencies that received the People’s Voice Award include The Monkeys for Berlei ‘Womankind’, M&C Saatchi Sydney for AIME ‘Cogs’, McCann Sydney for Mastercard ‘Tap For Your Town’ and Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for Airbnb ‘Until We All Belong’.
Says Robert Morgan, chairman, Clemenger Group: “To be recognised internationally at the Webby Awards is no mean feat – it’s a fantastic result for the individual agencies and for Clemenger Group at large. The awards serve as a great barometer of our ongoing commitment to creating contemporary, innovative ideas for clients and consumers alike.”
Webby Winners are selected by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences; members include Lyft CEO Logan Green, Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani, Gimlet Media CEO Alex Blumberg, Instagram’s Eva Chen, CNN host Van Jones, Internet inventor Vint Cerf, and Playmatics CEO Margaret Wallace. This year, three million votes were cast from Internet fans in more than 240 countries and territories around the world to choose the winners of the Webby People’s Voice Awards.
Hosted by comedian Amber Ruffin, this year’s star-studded ceremony in New York on Monday, May 14, will celebrate the most inspiring, exciting, and entertaining work on the Internet. Fans can watch the full Awards Show and show highlights, including special performances and all the hallmark 5-Word Speeches from the night’s big Winners on Tuesday, May 15 at webbyawards.com.
The Academy announced the first-ever Webby for Media Company of the Year. National Geographic took home the historic Webby Award, with the most pieces of celebrated work across all Webby categories and an impressive 26 wins overall. Condé Nast and VICE were among those in close contention for Webby Media Company of the Year.
Organisers also announced a slate of outstanding individuals who will be recognized with Webby Special Achievement Awards this year. Joining the ranks of previous Special Achievement Winners like Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Prince, Solange, Jessica Alba, and The Women’s March are:
Webby Person of the Year: Susan Fowler for fearlessly using the Internet to expose a deep culture of misogyny and sexual harassment at Uber and calling on the tech industry to take a stand against harassment of any kind. In a year marked by stories of sexual harassment and assault across industries, Fowler’s personal and powerful account helped to ignite the global #MeToo movement.
Webby Lifetime Achievement: Mitchell Baker for her decades of leadership at Mozilla, her pioneering vision to make the Firefox browser open source, and her role as a fierce champion of a free and open web. With growing threats to Internet freedom, from censorship to the dismantling of net neutrality, Baker has been one of the world’s most influential leaders on open source and one of the greatest defenders of an open, collaborative Internet community.
Webby Special Achievement: FKA twigs for her incredible contributions to digital culture and for embracing the Internet as the ultimate creative platform to share experimental new art, from her Instagram magazine to her surprise EP release.
Webby Best Actress: Laura Linney for her spellbinding work as Wendy in the critically acclaimed Netflix original series Ozark. Linney brings her exceptional talent to a complex role on one of the most binge-watched and talked-about new series this year.
Webby Special Achievement: Jesse Williams for bridging the gap between activism and entertainment with his newest app, BLeBRiTY, and his use of social media to call attention to the lack of diversity in both the entertainment and tech space.
Webby Film & Video Person of the Year: Steven Soderbergh for pushing the boundaries of what is possible through digital storytelling and enhancing the viewer experience with his new interactive mobile filmmaking app, Mosaic.
Webby Special Achievement: David Chang for bringing nuanced and difficult conversations on food, authenticity, and cultural appropriation to the Internet with the Netflix instant-hit Ugly Delicious. Chang broke the mold with his eight-episode streaming series, making it more than just a show, but a brilliant digital platform for innovation and cultural understanding.
Webby Best Athlete: Chris Long for his work both on and off the football field, and for donating his salary this season to fund scholarships in Charlottesville and educational equity programs around the country.