| The Shorty Awards | |
| Current Awards: | 15th Shorty Awards |
| Awarded For: | The best of social media - from creators to brands |
| Country: | United States |
| Website: | shortyawards.com |
The Shorty Awards (also known as "The Shortys") are awards for outstanding and innovative work in digital and social media content by brands, advertising agencies, and creators. The awards, which generally focus on short-term content, honor achievements in content creation on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, and other social networking sites. The Shorty Awards began in 2008 and initially recognized achievements by independent creators on Twitter, with the first formal awards ceremony occurring in February 2009. Since then, the awards, which are now awarded each spring, have shifted their focus to recognize content across numerous platforms.
Entrant work is judged on the merits of excellence in creativity, strategy, and engagement by the Real Time Academy, a group of industry professionals selected by the Shorty Awards on the basis of their professional reputations, industry knowledge, and personal achievements (which may include previous Shorty wins). An additional public voting component, known as Audience Honor Voting, is also used to select Shorty Awards contenders.
Notable Shorty Award winners include Malala Yousafzai, Trevor Noah, Michelle Obama, Conan O’Brien, Lady Gaga, Bill Nye, and Lizzo. Brands and organizations such as Chipotle, Duolingo, Marvel Studios, HBO, Red Bull, Airbnb, Nestle, BMW, UNICEF and the Human Rights Campaign have also been awarded.[1]
The Shorty Awards also produces an annual award program called The Shorty Impact Awards, a competition dedicated to showcasing digital and social media-based projects by brands, agencies, and organizations that seek to make the world a better place.[2]
| Ceremony | Date | Venue | Host City | Host | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Shorty Awards | February 11, 2009 | Galapagos Art Space | New York City | Rick Sanchez | ||
| 2nd Shorty Awards | March 3, 2010 | The Times Center | ||||
| 3rd Shorty Awards | March 28, 2011 | Aasif Mandvi | [3] | |||
| 4th Shorty Awards | March 27, 2012 | Samantha Bee and Jason Jones | [4] | |||
| 5th Shorty Awards | April 8, 2013 | Felicia Day | [5] | |||
| 6th Shorty Awards | April 7, 2014 | Natasha Leggero | [6] | |||
| 7th Shorty Awards | April 20, 2015 | Rachel Dratch | [7] | |||
| 8th Shorty Awards | April 11, 2016 | Mamrie Hart | [8] | |||
| 9th Shorty Awards | April 23, 2017 | PlayStation Theater | Tony Hale | [9] | ||
| 10th Shorty Awards | April 15, 2018 | Keke Palmer | [10] | |||
| 11th Shorty Awards | May 5, 2019 | Kathy Griffin | [11] | |||
| 12th Shorty Awards | May 3, 2020 | Virtual event streamed online only | J. B. Smoove | [12] | ||
| 13th Shorty Awards | May 11-14, 2021 | Winners revealed on social media | [13] [14] | |||
| 14th Shorty Awards | May 10, 2022 | Winners announced online | [15] [16] | |||
| 15th Shorty Awards | May 24, 2023 | Tribeca 360°, NYC | [17] | |||
| 16th Shorty Awards | May 22, 2024 | Tribeca 360°, NYC | [18] | |||
See main article: 1st Shorty Awards. The awards were created in 2008 by tech entrepreneurs Greg Galant, Adam Varga, and Lee Semel of Sawhorse Media.[19] [20] They invited Twitter account holders to nominate the best Twitter users in general categories such as humor, news, food, and design.[21] Winners were chosen by more than 30,000 Twitter users during the voting period.[19] The founders of Twitter first heard about the awards after the contest had gotten underway and expressed support for it.[19]
The first Shorty Awards ceremony was held on February 11, 2009, at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, New York. Approximately 300 people attended the event.[22] The event was hosted by CNN anchor Rick Sanchez and featured appearances by prominent Twitter users MC Hammer and Gary Vaynerchuk and a video appearance by Shaquille O'Neal.[23] [24] The awards, in 26 categories, were voted on by Twitter users.[19]
See main article: 2nd Shorty Awards. Voting for the second Shorty Awards opened in January 2010 in 26 official categories.[25] A Real-Time Photo of the Year category was added to the list of official categories for the first time, recognizing the best photo posted to services such as Twitpic, Yfrog, or Facebook.
The second Shorty Awards competition introduced a panel of judges called the Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences whose members were Craig Newmark, David Pogue, Kurt Andersen, Caterina Fake, Joi Ito, Frank Moss, Alberto Ibargüen, Sreenath Sreenivasan, MC Hammer, Alyssa Milano and Jimmy Wales. After public nominations determined the finalists, the academy decided on the winners.
Winners were announced at a ceremony held in the Times Center in The New York Times building in Manhattan that was also streamed online. The ceremony was hosted by CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, who presented awards in the official categories as well as the newly added Real-Time Photo of the Year and a special humanitarian award.[26]
See main article: 3rd Shorty Awards. The nomination period for the third annual Shorty Awards opened in January 2011 and ran through February 11, 2011, except for new categories that had extended nomination deadlines. There were 30 official categories and five special categories. In addition to Real-Time Photo of the Year, for the first time the awards accepted nominations for Foursquare Mayor of the Year, Foursquare Location of the Year, Microblog of the Year on Tumblr, and a Connecting People award. The awards also introduced new Shorty Industry Awards to recognize the best uses of social media by brands and agencies. Winners were announced at a ceremony on March 28, 2011, hosted by Aasif Mandvi in the Times Center.[27] [28] Other Shorty Awards presenters were scheduled to include Kiefer Sutherland, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, Stephen Wallem, Miss USA Rima Fakih, and Miss Teen USA Kamie Crawford.[28]
See main article: The 4th Annual Shorty Awards. The 4th Annual Shorty Awards featured Ricky Gervais and Tiffani Thiessen. 1.6 million tweeted nominations were made across all the categories to honor the top users on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare, YouTube and other internet platforms.
See main article: 5th Shorty Awards. The 5th Annual Shorty Awards ceremony featured Felicia Day, James Urbaniak, Kristian Nairn, Hannibal Buress, Carrie Keagan, Chris Hardwick, David Karp and Coco Rocha. 2.4 million tweeted nominations were made across all the categories to honor the top users on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Foursquare, YouTube and other internet sites.
See main article: 6th Shorty Awards. The ceremony took place on April 7, 2014, at the New York TimesCenter and was hosted by Comedian Natasha Leggero. The show included appearances by Patton Oswalt, Jamie Oliver, Kristen Bell, Jerry Seinfeld, Moshe Kasher, Julie Klausner, Erin Brady, Guy Kawasaki, Matt Walsh, Retta, Us the Duo, Big Boi, Gilbert Gottfried, Thomas Middleditch, Billie Jean King and Leandra Medine. Winners included Jerry Seinfeld and Will Ferrell.
See main article: 7th Shorty Awards. The Seventh Annual Shorty Awards was hosted by comedian Rachel Dratch and took place on April 20, 2015, at The Times Center in NYC. The Real-Time Academy, the judging body of the Shortys, tripled in size for the 7th annual Awards and included Alton Brown, Mamrie Hart, Nikki Glaser, OK Go, The Fine Bros, Debbie Sterling, Dan Savage, Deena Varshavskaya and Palmer Luckey. Panic! at the Disco was the musical guest at the ceremony.[29] On-stage presenters included Kevin Jonas, Bill Nye, Bella Thorne, Wyclef Jean, Emily Kinney and Tyler Oakley.
See main article: 8th Shorty Awards. The Eighth Annual Shorty Awards were held in NYC at the TimesCenter on April 11, 2016. They were hosted by YouTuber, Writer and Comedian Mamrie Hart with musical performances from Nico & Vinz. Winners of the night included Bill Wurtz, DJ Khaled, Misty Copeland, Casey Neistat, Dwayne Johnson, Hannah Hart, Troye Sivan, Baddie Winkle, Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, King Bach, and Zach King.[30] [31]
See main article: 9th Shorty Awards. The Ninth Annual Shorty Awards were held in NYC at the PlayStation Theater on April 23, 2017. They were hosted by two-time Emmy Award winner Tony Hale with a musical performance by Lizzo. Winners of the night included Bill Nye, Shay Mitchell, Doug the Pug, Gigi Gorgeous, Simone Biles, Mara Wilson, Gaten Matarazzo and Chrissy Teigen.[32]
See main article: 10th Shorty Awards. The 10th Annual Shorty Awards, took place on April 15, 2018, at the PlayStation Theater, New York City. The ceremony was hosted by actress, singer, and songwriter Keke Palmer with a musical performance by Betty Who.
See main article: 11th Shorty Awards. The 11th Annual Shorty Awards were held on May 5, 2019, in New York City at the PlayStation Theater. The ceremony was hosted by American actress and comedian Kathy Griffin, with a musical performance by Tank and the Bangas.
See main article: 12th Shorty Awards. The 12th Annual Shorty Awards were held on May 3, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony took place online for the first time, with presenters and award winners filming from their own homes. The ceremony was hosted by actor J.B. Smoove and featured a remixed performance of Trap Queen by Fetty Wap. Award winners included Jack Stauber, Supercar Blondie, Rose and Rosie, and Greta Thunberg.[33] [34]
The 13th Annual Shorty Awards took place from April 26 to May 14, 2021. The ceremony was hosted on different social media platforms, such as Instagram and Clubhouse, to create a more tailored experience. Winners were announced from May 11 to May 14, with 10 winners being revealed each hour from 1 to 4 p.m. EST on the Shorty Awards Instagram account.[35]