The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences has unveiled the nominees for the 26th Annual Webby Awards, which include Apple TV+, Gucci, HBO Max, Google, NASA, Netflix, Patagonia, Smartless, Square, Twitch, The 1619 Project, David Zwirner’s PLATFORM: and the Washington Post, as well as some of the year’s most talked-about personalities, including Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, Laverne Cox, Lilly Singh, Anthony Anderson, LeVar Burton, Questlove, Cynthia Erivo, Janelle Monaé, and Lena Waithe.
All nominees are eligible to win The Webby Award, selected by the Academy, and The Webby People’s Voice Award, voted on by the online community around the world. Voting for The Webby People’s Voice Awards is open now until Thursday, April 21, at 11:59 pm PT.
“The Webby Awards has been honoring the very best in digital innovation and creativity for 26 years,” said Claire Graves, president of The Webby Awards. “This year’s nominees represent more than innovation. They are the coolest, most creative, most shared, watched, listened to, most breathtaking, moving and talked about work on the Internet. We’re so proud to recognize them today.”
Webby nominees are selected by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Members include Arlan Hamilton, founder and managing partner, Backstage Capital; Ziwe Fumudoh, comedian & writer; Quinta Brunson, writer, director and actor; Felecia Hatcher, CEO, Black Ambition; Sridhar Ramaswamy; co-founder & CEO, Neeva; Bob Greenberg, chairman & CEO, R/GA; Kerstin Emhoff, co-founder & CEO, PRETTYBIRD; Dan Pfeiffer, co-host, Pod Save America; and Paulo Cunha, president, SeatGeek.
This year saw an increased acceleration of virtual engagement with brands and companies experimenting with activations in the Metaverse, as well as in hybrid, virtual and in-person experiences. Webby Nominees across categories recognizing this work include Gucci Garden Archetypes, Flight Of Voices: 360° Live Concert VR Experience, Sneaker 0, Nike – For Every Body, EffectNode Metaverse, and Connecting Kylie Minogue to Fans with Augmented Reality by Meta.
The growth in consumer demand for great storytelling was demonstrated with a 40% increase in podcast submissions this year. Webby Nominees in podcasts range the breadth of genres from comedy to crime, sport and spirituality, food, work, entrepreneurship, diversity and inclusion, and technology including: SmartLess, Pivot, Storytime with Seth Rogan, Song Exploder, On Purpose with Jay Shetty, We Can Do Hard Things, The Problem With Jon Stewart, Office Ladies, and LOUD.
In a year full of high-profile true crime, justice and stories of grifting coming into public discourse, podcasts have played an important role in recounting these narratives to audiences worldwide. Crime & Justice podcast Nominees include: The Dropout, Scam Goddess, To Live and Die in LA, Where The Bodies Are Buried, Norco 80, Anatomy of Murder – NYC’s Only Homicide on 9/11, Over My Dead Body: Fox Lake, Criminal and Cold.
Media and streaming companies continue to reimagine storytelling in innovative ways across Social, Video, Branded Content, Podcasts, and more. Nominees include: Apple TV+, Axios, CNN, Complex, Hulu, National Geographic, Netflix, HBO Max, PBS, Paramount, Spotify, Amazon Prime Video. Media organizations in contention for Webby Media Company of the Year, an honor presented to the media company that performs best across all Webby Awards categories, are National Geographic (19) HBO (18), CNN (14), MTV (12), The Washington Post (12), Wondery (10), BBC (9), Vox Media (8), and Paramount (7).
From the tens of thousands of global entries submitted, fewer than 12% were selected as nominees. The organizations earning the highest number of nominations this year include Netflix (26), Apple (19), National Geographic (19), HBO (18), CNN (14), Amazon (13), MTV (12), The Washington Post (12), Wondery (10), Spotify (9), Vox Media (8), Amazon Music (7), Meta (7), Electronic Arts (7), and Paramount (7).
Advertising, Media & PR
Also announced were nominees in the Advertising, Media & PR categories, including 72andSunny, Droga5, Golin, INNOCEAN USA, McCann Paris, R/GA, Weber Shandwick and Wunderman Thompson UK.
The contenders for this year’s Agency of the Year are those agencies that earned more Webby Awards nominations across all categories than any other agency. Leading the nominees are Jung von Matt AG (15 nominations), R/GA (15 nominations), BBDO New York (14 nominations), BASIC® / Dept (12 nominations) and 72andSunny (11 nominations), Droga5 (8 nominations), TBWAMedia Arts Lab (7 nominations), SERVICEPLAN GERMANY (7 nominations), BBH US (7 nominations) Goodby Silverstein & Partners (6 nominations), Mischief @ No Fixed Address (6 nominations) and The Martin Agency (6 nominations).
“2022 will mark a pivotal year in the history of the Internet,” said The Webby Awards’ Graves. “Witnessing the embrace of Web3 and the Metaverse, and the explosion of creativity from our Nominees in this space has been truly exciting. This year’s advertising and marketing Nominees are defining the possibilities of innovation in this new frontier, and are setting the standard of excellence for what is to come.”
This year saw an increased acceleration of agencies and brands competing to create compelling virtual engagement by experimenting with activations in the Metaverse, in hybrid virtual and IRL experiences and augmented reality. Webby Nominees across categories recognizing this work include: Gucci Garden presents Archetypes on Roblox (Gucci), Flight Of Voices (Metaverse Stage), Sneaker 0 (GoSpooky), Connecting Kylie Minogue to Fans with Augmented Reality (Meta), Verizon – Fortnite Stadium (R/GA), NYT x Google Lens | Search what you see (Hook) and Pedestal Project (BBDO).
This year’s recognized work continued to demonstrate the industry’s commitment to social impact with powerful projects dedicated to public service and activism that shine a light on pressing issues, including Sephora – Black Beauty is Beauty (R/GA), AT&T Dream in Black Rising Future Makers (Translation LLC), REFORM Alliance – Give Life Back (Droga5), Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold Earth Day – Powered By The Sun (Michelob ULTRA), Nike’s FM (Future Movement) Broadcast (Partizan Entertainment), and Here’s To Perfectly Imperfect Parenting (Red & Co.).
Webby nominees are selected by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Members include Azania Andrews, VP, Connections, Anheuser-Busch; Dino Myers-Lamptey, founder, The Barber Shop; Katie Walmsley, president, The Blue Room, Edelman; Bharat Kumar, executive creative director, Havas; Tiffany Rolfe, chief global creative officer, R/GA; Resh Sidhu, global director of Arcadia Creative Studio, Snap Inc; Linda Boff, CMO, GE; Merlee Cruz-Jayme, chief creative officer, Dentsu International APAC; William Beck, SVP & CMO, Anthem; Andrew McKechnie, SVP, chief creative officer, Verizon; and Glenn Cole, founder & creative chairman, 72andSunny.
This year’s Webbys will also recognize Production Company of the Year; production companies currently in the running include, Media.Monks B.V. (10 nominations), Active Theory (5 nominations) BWGTBLD GmbH (5 nominations), Annapurna Pictures (5 nominations), B-Reel (4 nominations) and Partizan Entertainment (3 nominations).
Network of the Year will also be presented at this year’s Webby Awards. The following networks that earned more Webby Awards nominations across all categories are in contention: BBDO Worldwide (19 nominations), McCann Worldgroup (18 mominations), DEPT (16 nominations) and TBWA Worldwide (16 nominations).
The overall Webby Awards had another record-breaking year for submissions this year with more than 14,000 entries from 50 states and 70 countries worldwide. From the tens of thousands of global entries submitted, fewer than 12% were selected as nominees.
For a complete list of nominees and to vote for the People’s Voice Awards, visit here.
Winners for the 26th Annual Webby Awards will be announced on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, and they will be celebrated at a star-studded in-person award show on Monday, May 16, 2022 at Cipriani Wall Street.
