Tech & Biz

Webby Awards 2009: The Winners

by Jordan Yerman | May 5, 2009 at 07:13 am

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The Webby Awards have been announced, and once again someone has newly discovered Twitter. In other news, Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor wins artist of the year for actually engaging fans and strangers alike with a creative mix of online-and artifact-based releases. It seems like just yesterday that Reznor was lamenting his online-distribution effort with Saul Williams as a possible failure.

Webby Artist of the Year: Trent Reznor

Webby Person of the Year: Jimmy Fallon

Webby Breakout of the Year: Twitter

Best Actress: Sarah Silverman

Outstanding Comedic Performance: Lisa Kudrow

Film & Video Person of the Year: Seth MacFarlane

The fact that the Webbys' top awards go to known entities isn't new. Its highest honors tend to go to mainstream celebrities who have built their fame offline and have then turned to the Web as a sort of experimental platform. Last year's Person of the Year awards, for example, went to comedian Stephen Colbert, director Michel Gondry, and Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am for his YouTube sensation "Yes We Can" in support of Barack Obama's presidential campaign.