The big winners of this year’s Webby Awards include big names in streaming music and “new media” as well as a massively popular documentary about an accused killer.
The organization behind the 20th Annual Webby Awards announced this year’s winners on Tuesday morning, with the awards “honoring excellence on the Internet” by singling out stars like late-night talk show host Jimmy Fallon and Lena Dunham, of HBO’s Girls, along with companies such as Netflix (NFLX), Spotify, and VICE Media. Jessica Alba, co-founder of The Honest Company, also was the first person honored as Webby Entrepreneur of the Year, despite the fact that The Honest Company has been embroiled in controversy.
The streaming music service Spotify tied digital media outlet Vice for the most overall Webby Awards this year, with 13 awards each. In addition to taking home Webbys for the best streaming audio website and best customer service (in the social category), Spotify also won awards for the company’s brand strategy and the visual design of its website. Vice earned the Webby for best cultural blog or website, while the media company’s online video efforts earned awards in the music, technology, and news and politics categories.
Other winners include Netflix’s Making A Murderer true crime docuseries, which won the Film & Video Breakout of the Year Award for creators Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. Meanwhile, Netflix also scored another Webby for the streaming site’s FU2016 advertising campaign around the latest season of popular scripted series House of Cards.
NBC’s Fallon won the Webby for the best social content and marketing. Fallon’s Tonight Show is regularly lauded for its ability to churn out viral content with short comedy bits online. Fellow late-night comedian John Oliver, the host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, also won an award for writing.
Even First Lady Michelle Obama got in on the Webbys action, as the awards honored Obama twice in the online film and video category for her appearances on Funny or Die’s Billy on the Street as well as a CollegeHumor short video. The Webby Awards also handed satirical news website The Onion a lifetime achievement award, while Lena Dunham and fellow Girls creator Jenni Konner took home a special achievement award for their work founding weekly online feminist newsletter Lenny Letter, which has almost 500,000 subscribers.
The Webby Awards are voted on and presented each year by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), an organization of more than 1,000 Internet professionals. This year’s awards received nearly 13,000 entries from 65 countries worldwide. Winners will be presented with their awards at a ceremony in New York City on May 16.
