Shorty Award Winners: PolicyMic's Night At the Shorty Awards

Impact

One thing is clear: The Shorties are fun.

The Shorty Awards are the world's premiere social media awards ceremony. Every year, winners are tacked in categories ranging from #Journalism and #Science to Best GIF Maker and Best Viral Campaign. I attended the ceremonies on April 8 for PolicyMic in an attempt to garner an understanding of this strange new world.

After a quick check-in at the TimesCenter front desk (at which I used the phrase "I'm with the press" for the first time that didn't involve the commission of a felony!) I managed to run into a veritable gauntlet of minor celebrities. Miss Teen USA was extremely gracious and posed for a photo with me:

I also ran into Andrea Hackett of Ogilvy, whose team won the Shorty for Best Use Of Facebook Advertising. Hackett's team ran Pandaquest, a social media campaign which was making serious waves in conservation by asking people to sign up to be ambassadors and travel worldwide to promote protection of the Chinese Panda. She also helped explain to me why the funnels placed onto the various bottles of Noel champagne were not intended to aid human consumption. (Apparently, they were there to help prevent spills. This did not, however, prevent the hilarious spectacle of watching dozens of social media people trying to drink champagne through an inverted funnel.)

I also talked with reporter Ben Swann of Fox 19, who agreed that social media awards must be one of the most awkward ceremonies on the planet. Near-breaking news: he's leaving FOX 19, but it's public knowledge. Unfortunately, he did not win the award for #journalism, despite me rooting heavily for him. Swann is best known for his amazing investigative reports, including a great segment on drones:

FOX19.com-Cincinnati News, Weather

Comedian Harrison Greenbaum, winner of a previous Shorty (and as I later learned, an actual celebrity!), was also there.

"I was the winner of best comic last year," Greenbaum commented. "It was really good. This year I thought I'd dust off my tuxedo."

I bugged him to tell me what the worst thing he could say on the record was. He told me that he had once tried to make out with a girl even though her grandfather was a Nazi, then begged me not to print that. I just did, though.

During the ceremony, audience members were shuffled off into a lower-level antechamber with an open bar and hors d'oeuvres that mainly seemed to consist of breaded cheese sticks. The majority of people I met claimed that this was the "real party" compared to the ceremonies above, which were broadcast via a series of screens, coincidentally making it very difficult to observe the award winners. Fortunately, the ceremonies were an awful lot of fun, featuring guest appearances from celebrities ranging from Jimmy Kimmel to George Takei.

Finally, I did encounter host Felicia Day, who my interaction with was limited to a series of half-intelligible compliments while maneuvering for a photo. Here's the highlight photo of the night. She is wonderful.

Other highlights included the Best GIF Maker Shorty, which I was absolutely furious did not go to the gif of the fat kid chasing hot dogs (picture below, courtesy of lulinternet).

I mean, come on. If you're not going to honor true genius, why bother?

In short, the ceremony was what you would expect from social media awards: short, fun, irreverent, and better with booze.

There are perks to being an editor.

Here's a complete list of winners:

#Activism: AgainstSuicide (@AgainstSuicide)

#Actor: Misha Collins (@MishaCollins)

#Actress (tie): Tara Strong (@TaraStrong); Selena Gomez (@SelenaGomez)

Animated GIF of the Year presented by A&E's Duck Dynasty: Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg: Kiss Me in Paris - Source: Ann Street Studio

#Apps: Twitter (@Twitter)

#Author: John Green (@RealJohnGreen)

#Band: One Direction (@OneDirection)

#BNCollege Award presented by Barnes & Noble College: WVU Mountaineers (@WestVirginiaU)

#Brazil: Dilma Bolada (@Dilmabr)

#Canada: MattG124 (@MattG124)

#Celebrity: Justin Bieber (@JustinBieber)

#CelebrityFashion (tie): Sophia Abrahao (@SophiaAbrahao); Selena Gomez (@SelenaGomez)

Charity presented by New York Life: Random Acts (@TheRandomActOrg)

#Comedian: Rafinha Bastos (@RafinhaBastos)

#FakeAccount: Prince Charles (@Charles_HRH)

#Fansite: Sherlockology (@Sherlockology) and 1D Updates (@1Dneews)

#Food (tie): Rosanna Pansino (@RosannaPansino); The Kitchenista (@MissAngelaDavis)

#Foursquare Mayor of the Year: Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity)

#Gaming (tie): Monark (@RandonsPlays); PieDiePew (@PewDiePie)

#GIF Maker (tie): T. Kyle MacMahon (@TKyleMac); Ryan Broderick (@RyanPBroderick)

#Government: NASA (@NASA)

#Ireland (tie): Niall Horan (@NiallOfficial); BriBry (@BriBryOnTour)

#Journalist Award presented by Muck Rack: Tim Pool (@Timcast)

#Museum: Emily Graslie (@Ehmee)

#Music (tie): Demetria Lovato (@DDLovato); aoi (@Official_aoi)

#NonHuman: SarcasticRover (@SarcasticRover)

#Photography (tie): Mike Lerner (@MikeTakesStills); Jenna Pope (@BatmanWI)

Quora Answer of the Year: Kenyatta Leal

Real-Time Photo of the Year: Hurricane Sandy - Benjamin Lowy

#Science (tie): Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield); AsapSCIENCE (@AsapSCIENCE)

#Singer: Greyson Chance (@GreysonChance)

#WebShow: Bravest Warriors (@BravestWarriors)

#SocialFitness Award presented by Health. Join In.: Cassey Ho (@Blogilates)

#SportsTeam: Pittsburgh Steelers (@Steelers)

#KeepGoodGoing Award presented by New York Life: Kathy Zucker (@KathyZucker)

#Parenting: Carlos Pena (@CarlosPenaSr)

#SmallBusiness Award presented by Cox BLUE: Jawbreaking (@ShopJawbreaking)

Tumblr of the Year: Texts from Hillary

#TVShow: Pretty Little Liars (@ABCFpll)

#UK: Charlie McDonnell (@coollike)

#VideoBlogger: PC Siqueira (@pecesiqueira)

#YouTubeStar: Caue Moura (@CaueMoura)

Industry Winners (alphabetically by category):

Best Use of Social Media for News: CNN Worldwide - Election 2012: CNN Worldwide Won the Social Media Battle

Best Overall Brand Presence on Instagram: National Geographic - In the Field with National Geographic

Best Viral Campaign: Old Spice - Old Spice Muscle Music

Best Branded YouTube Channel: TED - TED Conferences LLC

Best Use of Video in a Social Media Campaign: Maybelline - TopChicret - Announcing Charlotte Free as New Face of #1 Cosmetic Brand in the World

Best Overall Brand Presence on Twitter: Comedy Central - @TheDailyShow

Best Overall Brand Presence on Tumblr: Comedy Central - The Daily Show Election Center on Tumblr

Best Use of Social Media for Auto Industry: Dodge - Dodge Dart Registry

Best Use of Animated GIFs: Wilson Sporting Goods Co. - Where Football is Born

Best Use of Social Media In Real Life (IRL): Temple University - "Temple Made" Campaign

Best Social Media Agency - Large (over 100): 360i

Best Overall Brand Presence on Facebook: Maybelline - New York Digital Strategy 2012

Best Use of Social Media for Customer Service: SquareTrade, Inc

Best Use of Game Mechanics (Gamification) in a Social Media Campaign: USA Network - Suits Recruits

Best Use of Facebook Advertising: Chengdu Municipal Government and Chengdu Panda Base - PandaQuest: Be the Next Chengdu Pambassador

Best Use of a Mobile App in a Campaign: Turner Entertainment Networks - CONAN Sync App - it's techno-magic

Best Overall Brand Presence on Pinterest: Birchbox

Best Use of Social Media for Financial Services: Citi - Citi's Connect: Professional Women's Network on LinkedIn

Best Use of Social Media for a Consumer Brand: Food Lion - Food Lion's Operation Grocery Drop

Best Use of Twitter in a Campaign: The CW - Live Twitter Feed in a Magazine

Best Use of Facebook in a Campaign: Chengdu Municipal Government and Chengdu Panda Base - PandaQuest: Be the Next Chengdu Pambassador

Best Use of Social Media for Fashion: Banana Republic - Banana Republic In Flight Fashion Show

Best Use of Social Media for Sports: Nike - Nike #maketherules

Best Fortune 500 Brand on Social Media: Pepsi - Pepsi: Live For Now

Best Location-Based Marketing: VH1 - Save The Music Foursquare Partnership

Best Use of a Hashtag on Twitter: Nike - CountonKobe

Best Social Media Campaign for Film: Universal Pictures - Ted

Best Social Media Manager Award presented by Unmetric: Bravo - Andy Cohen for WWHL

Best Use of a Promoted Tweet, Promoted Trend, or Promoted Account: Maker's Mark - #CocktailParty2012

Best Use of Social Media for Retail or E-Commerce: Chobani - Nothing But Good, One Fan at a Time

Best Social Media Agency - Small (1 -20): neoco

Best Social Media Agency - Mid-Sized (21 - 100) (three-way tie): Deep Focus; Suite Spot - JetBlue Getaways Presents, "Get Away With It!"; Carrot Creative

Best Celebrity Campaign on Social Media: Intel - David Blaine's ELECTRIFIED

Best Social Media Presence of a CEO: Deep Focus - Ian Schafer

Best Use of Social Media for Television: Beam Inc. - Skinnygirl Cocktails #WinningTheOscars

Best Use of Social Media for Television: ABC Family - Pretty Little Liars #TheBetrAyal campaign

Best Integration of Social Media with Live Television: Fox News Digital - Fox News Election Night 2012

Best Integration of Social Media with Live Television: Bravo - Play Live on Watch What Happens Live

Best Use of Social Media for Video Games: neoco / 2K - Borderlands 2: A Work Of Art

Best Use of Social Media for the London 2012 Olympics: Nike - Nike Greatness

Best Use of Social Media For Music: Intel and MTV Iggy - Intel Presents The Music Experiment Powered By MTV Iggy

Best Use of Social Media For Music: Spotify and OMD - Music Apps Hack Weekend