New Zealand picks up three Webby Winners + three People’s Voice Awards at Webby Awards
New Zealand has picked up three Webby Winner Awards and two People’ Voice Awards at the 22nd Annual Webby Awards.
The Webby Winners from NZ include Colenso BBDO for Pedigree ‘Child Replacement Programme’ in Best Cause Related Campaign, Gladeye for HuffPost Highline in Best Individual Editorial Experience and Assembly via Y&R NZ for Heinz ‘Geoff’ in Best Use of Animation or Motion Graphics.
New Zealand People’s Voice winners include Colenso BBDO for New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation ‘The Annoying Lump’ in Best Media Strategy and Y&R NZ for RainbowYOUTH ‘If It’s Not Gay, It’s Not Gay’ in Video Ad Short Form and Heyday for Garage Project in Websites – Shopping.
Says Claire Graves, executive director, The Webby Awards: “Pedigree and Breast Cancer Foundation have set the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet. This award is a testament to the skill, ingenuity, and vision of its creators.”
Says Scott Coldham, managing director at Colenso BBDO: “We know how tough Webby Awards are to win – we’re in the company of everything cool on the internet and competing against some of the biggest digital brands in the world, which is great company to keep. Digital is a key focus for us and, as an agency in New Zealand, we’re stoked to also win an award based on a global public vote.”
Says Tarver Graham, CEO, Gladeye: “The Webbys are the high-water mark of creative recognition in our industry and we’re incredibly proud to have produced a win.”
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.