The annual Webby awards are in and the list of winners includes a lot of your favorites

Apr 29, 2014 13:14 GMT  ·  By

The winners of the 18th annual Webby awards are in and it looks like it’s been a big year for a lot of online services.

Webby Awards, the famous awards for excellence on the Internet, are presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and include a list of categories, such as websites, online film and video, and mobile. Two awards are given in each category – one selected by the Academy and one by public vote.

Internet users from 200 countries of the world share their opinion on the awards and choose the winners. This year, over half a million people participated in the voting.

In the activism category, Change.org was deemed the best website by both the Academy and the public, while the winners for “Best Practices” were The Guardian for the “NSA Files: Decoded” section and Google Play (People’s Voice).

Blog publishing platform Medium offers the “Best User Experience” in the Academy’s opinion, while people are partial to Hulu. Medium won another award for “Best Visual Design,” a section where people voted for video site Vimeo.

In the “Community” category, “Tumblr” won over both the votes of the members of the Academy and of users from everywhere around the world.

The website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was dubbed as the best government site, while NASA’s site won over regular users, most likely thanks to all the awesome pictures.

WebMD will be the recipient of both awards from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and the world’s citizens.

Funny or Die has been named the best website in the “Humor” section, while the sarcastic “The Onion” was dubbed winner by the people.

HBO Go was named the top media streaming site by the Academy, while Crackle got the vote of users. Vine was crowned the best social media site for this year’s Webby Awards, but people really loved Tumblr, so they chose it for the “People’s Voice” award.

Airbnb has been chosen as the top travel site, while TripAdvisor was chosen by the Internet users.

Pharell’s “Happy” was chosen as the best use of interactive video by everyone after he embarked on a 24-hour mission to create the video for the Oscar-nominated song. The charismatic chef Jamie Oliver was dubbed the best web personality.

Van Damme’s beloved “Epic Split” video won over everyone and was named the winner of the “Branded Entertainment Short Form,” as well as best online commercial, although the list is slightly longer.

Google+’s Same Sex Marriage site won several awards, including for “Public service and Activism” and “Corporate Social Responsibility,” as well as “Interactive Advertising and Media.” Jimmy Kimmel’s “Worst twerk fail” video was voted the best viral by the Academy, while the people were partial to Ylvis’ “The Fox.”

You can check out the entire list of Webby Awards winners on the official site. The awards ceremony will be held on May 20.