HomeFeature2014 Webby Awards Honors De La Soul & Pharrell Williams admin Tuesday, April 29, 2014 Feature, Technology If the digital world interests you, then you may have heard of the Webby Awards. Established in 1996, the Webby Awards honors those individuals and businesses who has done outstanding work on the internet. Advertising firms, mobile apps, celebrities, and so on are all recognized by the Webby Awards. This years awards recognized the contributions of two of hip hop’s most notable artists/groups: De La Soul and Pharrell Williams. De La Soul won the Webby Artist of the Year award. The Webby Awards is excited to honor De La Soul as Artist of the Year in 2014 for their bold, daring decision to offer their entire discography for free download. As the music industry trends more and more toward digital sales and online streaming, artists – specifically ones like De La Soul who sample so proficiently – struggle to release work on services like iTunes and Spotify due to abundant clearance issues. The alternative (simply giving away the music) strikes many as unthinkable. But with a long stretch of Twitter trending, De La Soul showed its fans that hearing the music is more important than paying for it. For that, The Webby Awards is honored to award De La Soul as the 2014 Webby Artist of the Year. Pharrell Williams’ hit single “Happy” won in both categories (Webby & Webby People’s Voice) for Best Use of Interactive Video. To win a Webby Award, there’s two distinct categories in which nominees are voted upon: Webby Award and Webby People’s Voice Award. The Webby Award winners are selected by judges of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. This year’s judges were Tumblr Founder, David Karp, House of Cards producer and star Kevin Spacey, and media mogul Arianna Huffington. The Webby People’s Voice Award winners are selected by internet users in over 200 countries worldwide. This year, over a half a million people voted. Here’s a few of those companies/individuals awarded this year: Best Social Game — QuizUp Best Use of Mobile — Vine Best User Experience, Best Visual Design: Function — Medium Best Entertainment Channel — Vimeo Best Business Blog — Mashable Best Travel Website, Best Travel App — Airbnb Best Community Website, Best Social Application — Tumblr Webby Breakout of the Year — Kickstarter Webby Athlete of the Year: The Jamaican Bobsled Team (crowdfunded trip to Sochi) Best Viral Video — Jimmy Kimmel Reveals “Worst Twerk Fail EVER: Girl Catches Fire” Prank To see the full list of 2014 winners, please visit www.webbyawards.com.
