Colbert, Galifianakis top list of Webby Award nominees

(News Terupdate) - Actor-comedian Zach Galifianakis, funny man Stephen Colbert, a blog about sometimes-regrettable text messages and the New York Times' Web site top the list of nominees for the 2010 Webby Awards.

The venerable -- at least by Internet standards -- awards announced finalists for the honor Tuesday morning. Prizes, decided by judges including Martha Stewart and David Bowie, will be handed out June 14 on the final day of Internet Week in New York.

Other nominees include Twitter, Hulu, The Onion and a video featuring science greats Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking.

Who would be your winner at the Webby Awards?

The Webby Awards honor excellence on the Internet, from serious news sites to silly videos. Nominees are named in four categories: Web sites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and the mobile Web.

The emergence of mobile technology was evident among nominees for the 14th annual awards.

"Rage," a Web movie starting Hollywood heavy hitters Jude Law, Eddie Izzard and Judi Dench, was nominated in the Best Online Film category. "Rage" is the first feature film to premier on mobile phones.

Other nominees from the mobile world include networking sites Twitter and Foursquare, and Texts From Last Night, a blog featuring funny, awkward or just plain weird text messages.

See a complete list of Webby Awards nominees.

Galifianakis, best known for his roles in movies like "The Hangover" and "Youth in Revolt," is nominated in the Comedy: Longform or Series category for "Between Two Ferns," his talk show on humor site Funny or Die that has featured such guests as Charlize Theron and Ben Stiller.

"The more and more talented people who start to participate, I think it's a recognition of Internet media and how important it is -- and also how accessible it is for consumers," said David-Michel Davies, director of the Webbys. "I think that's the reason these talented actors and actresses and directors are responding to it."

Competing with "David After Dentist" -- a YouTube hit in which a father records his son's loopy reaction to anesthesia -- for the Viral Video award are "Auto-Tune the News," "Lindsay Lohan's E-Harmony Profile," "Love Project Music Video" and "The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody."

The New York Times led the field with 15 nominations, followed by the BBC with nine and College Humor and The Onion with six each.

The public also will be able to vote online for The Webby People's Voice Awards. Deadline for voting is April 29.

The Webbys are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which includes Web experts, business figures and celebrities plus former nominees and other Internet professionals.

The awards ceremony is known for its promotion of brevity: Winners are limited to five-word acceptance speeches.

That's led to some classic lines, including Al Gore's "Please don't recount this vote" and late-night TV host Jimmy Fallon's "Thank God Conan got promoted."

Source : CNN

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