• On CBSSports.com: Mike Tyson's daughter dies in accident
September 19, 2006 5:28 PM PDT

And the winner is ... YouTube?

by Mike Yamamoto

It's no secret that the Webby Awards, at one time the toast of digerati set, have seen better days. Once dubbed the "Oscars of the Internet" by the New York Times, they have soared and plummeted like a dot-com IPO.

Still, the Webbys have survived to see their 10th anniversary this year, and--true to the event's history--its organizers are looking to ride another wave to the top, this time through a Web 2.0 rebirth. And that, in a word, means videos.

A spinoff called The Webby Film and Video Awards has been created as "the world's first major awards honoring original film and video premiering on the Internet." The video Webbys have distinctly Hollywood roots, spearheaded by former Variety publisher Gerry Byrne and supported by the likes of Showtime's Matt Blank and Fox Entertainment's Jim Gianopulos, as well as the Sundance Channel's Larry Aidem.

But it's a new day, and other awards arose in the video business while the Webbys wallowed through its trough. Far more important, in a universe where grassroots opinions matter most, one can't help but wonder whether the Webbys--or any other awards organization--can stay relevant.

advertisement
Click here!
Recent posts from News Blog
Neil Young Archives Blu-ray: Rip off?
Acronis revises survey results about backup habits
Acronis miscalculates data on users' bad backup habits
Flickr co-founder presses beta button
Comcast, Sony open retail store
Cox to try coaxing the Internet into submission
Was InfoWorld's CTO of the Year award a year late?
VMWare VI4 renamed to vSphere
advertisement

Can RIM get its mojo back?

The new BlackBerry Tour, carried by Verizon and Sprint, arrives Sunday, even as RIM seems to be losing sales to exclusive devices like the iPhone and Pre.

With Chrome, Google reignites the OS wars

roundup Google Chrome OS, due in 2010, underscores the Web giant's cloud-computing ambitions and opens new competition with Microsoft.
• What Chrome OS has on Windows that Linux doesn't

About News Blog

Recent posts on technology, trends, and more.

Add this feed to your online news reader

advertisement
advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right