REUTERS/Sergio Perez
At this point, the actual awards in question are irrelevant. The important thing is that Justin Bieber and Angry Birds always walk away winners. And that’s exactly how the 15th annual Webby Awards played out.
Let’s get the formalities out of the way: The Webbys recognize Internet achievement, and are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. To break this down, they’re a group of 750 Web experts as well as other Internet professionals.
Bieber won the People’s Voice award for best comedy video for his April Fool’s takeover of comedy website, FunnyOrDie.com, which mutated into “Bieber or Die.” In total, the comedy site, co-founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, took home nine awards.
(More on TIME.com: See pictures of Justin Bieber)
The “Angry Birds” app — you might have heard of it — was awarded with the best game prize, not only for the Webby but the People’s Voice award. And when it comes to individuals, the true takeaway might be the stellar showing by the comedian Zach Galifianakis. He won four awards for his Web series “Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis.” This tallies up as best Web personality/host, best comedy short and best online variety show. He won the latter in both the voter-chosen “People’s Voice” category, and the actual Webby Award. (And for the record, TIME was nominated for our TIMEFrames feature about China, but didn’t take the prize.)
And naturally, there will be an actual awards ceremony to celebrate these accolades. This year’s takes place on June 13 in New York . Acceptance speeches are famously limited to just five words. “Thanks for wisely choosing me” pretty much sums it up, right? (via Huffington Post)
(More on TIME.com: See the 50 best iPhone apps)