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YouTube Announces Award Winners

TUESDAY MARCH 27 2007 7:00 PM

Submitted by PointBlank. Edited By PointBlank.

TAGS: YouTube, Awards, media, entertainment, politics

YouTube, the ubiquitous home of random, time-wasting clips has just announced the winners of its first-annual video awards. Seven winners were announced in categories from �Most Creative� to �Most Adorable.�

US rock band OK Go won in the "most creative" category for a video featuring the performers on treadmills.

Comedy series Ask a Ninja, a video promoting a Free Hugs Campaign and a performance by singer Terra Naomi were among the winners in seven categories.

YouTube said the winners had "changed the landscape of how a 'star' is defined". A YouTube awards trophy is due to be unveiled at a later date.

To me, these awards show that someone is really missing the point of what makes YouTube so popular, interesting, and even groundbreaking. On the one hand, the music video that everyone and their grandmother has seen dozens of times, OKGo�s salute to treadmills "Here It Goes Again" predictably and deservedly took home the prize for �Most Creative.� But let�s take a look at the winner of �Best Music Video,� Terra Naomi�s �Say It�s Possible�

Sure, she has a decent voice, but I can�t imagine a more boring, pointless set-up for a video. A girl filming herself singing in front of a stationary webcam shouldn�t be winning any awards that aren�t handed out by her friends or parents. And having a lot of friends is probably what earned her this award, since these seven were chosen by the YouTube community, not a panel of judges. Now, I�m all for the democratization of entertainment, but aren't these awars just seven different ways of saying "Most Popular?"

Why, for example, doesn�t the infamous �Macaca� video win anything? It was easily the most important YouTube video of the year; it arguably changed the balance of the Senate, derailed one presidential candidate�s career, and elevated Jim Webb to the national stage. That was the real revolutionary YouTube story of 2006. It�s a shame they missed it.

Take a look, for example, at the anti-Hillary Clinton ad that made headlines this week. Videos like this are changing far more than the way the world entertains itself.

I don�t want to leave you on such a serious tone, so here�s the winner of �Most Adorable Video� of 2006. Kiwi!

(PointBlank is shocked, just shocked, that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the number one movie in America!)

17 Comments

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d20

San Francisco, CA

September 2003

MAR 27, 2007 07:18 PM

you just had to embed the fucking kiwi video didn't you?

i don't want to ever press play on that thing again... i really don't, but i know eventually i'm going to, and it will suck (for supreme ultimate sad factor, not for low quality).

thefreak

NEWSWIRE

Gardner, MA

MAR 27, 2007 07:25 PM

What, no love for Ask a Ninja?

-TM

Margot_Dent

Los Angeles, CA

February 2004

MAR 27, 2007 07:30 PM

oh my God that kiwi broke my heart.

adjunct

Philadelphia, PA

July 2002

MAR 27, 2007 07:52 PM

One of the strangest parts is that, in giving awards to a bunch of music videos, they seem to want to position themselves as some sort of alternative to MTV while simultaneously getting spanked by Viacom, as well as competing against tons of other streaming video sites with far less developed community features.

Plus Aziz got fucking robbed.

JerseyNoodles

Pittsburgh, PA

September 2005

MAR 27, 2007 07:56 PM

Might wanna fix the link for that treadmill video, sir...

otaku

I'm lost

January 2004

MAR 27, 2007 08:47 PM

Let's see how long it takes before they get pulled by Viacom </pissed off snark>

st_even

Milwaukee, WI

September 2006

MAR 27, 2007 10:02 PM

YouTube is fucking stupid. The only reason I go on that goddamn site is to watch episodes of TV shows that aren't on the air anymore, like Batman: The Animated Series, which will most likely eventually get taken down. Who the fuck sits on Youtube and browses viral videos for hours looking for some amusing tidbit? Nobody. It's crap. And now that it got bought out by Google, it's yet another form of corporate media content control. I suggest Kontraband instead.

adjunct

Philadelphia, PA

July 2002

MAR 27, 2007 10:52 PM

I hear Kontraband is run on renewable hydroelectric power and uses Fair Trade silicon for all the processors in its servers.

You hippie.

d20

San Francisco, CA

September 2003

MAR 27, 2007 10:56 PM

st_even said:
And now that it got bought out by Google, it's yet another form of corporate media content control.

i don't think you quite get this whole internet thing.

_DictionaryGirl_

NEWSWIRE

San Diego, CA

MAR 27, 2007 11:07 PM

I had to explain to someone once the poignancy of the kiwi video. I almost cried watching it.

In other news, Little Superstar should win every goddamned award there is to give on Youtube. It's a fucking classic.

turin

Denver, CO

October 2003

MAR 27, 2007 11:11 PM

I didn't think the kiwi video was sad at all, but I did think everyone was fucking sick of ninjas by now.

FireBrand

South River, NJ

December 2004

MAR 27, 2007 11:15 PM

you know when i jumped off a cliff to prove i could fly all it got me was labled crazy and 2 compund fractures, and not a one adorable! then again i didnt wear ww1 era flying glasses. just a cape.