A 1.0 Awards Show for a 2.0 World

If asked for a five word reaction to last night's 11th annual Webby Awards, mine would be: What happened to the revolution?

The Webbies are the internet's answer to the Emmys or Oscars -- an awards ceremony organized to honor excellence on the internet in categories ranging from personal blogs to podcasts to viral marketing campaigns.

When the awards were first handed out in San Francisco in 1996, the event was touted by organizers as "an antidote to the Oscars." The Webbies gave new media all the glitz and glamour of a Hollywood award show, but done the Silicon Valley way. Acceptance speeches were limited to five words (and still are, mercifully) and one award category was simply labeled, "Weird."

But this year's festivities were, quite literally, centered on Wall Street: at the Cipriani just a stone's throw from the stock exchange. That was fitting considering that the internet community, once dominated by a counter culture of rogue start-ups, by 2007 has matured to become a key sector of the business establishment.

David Bowie and The Beastie Boys were this year's headlining attendees, accepting Lifetime Achievement and Artist of the Year awards, respectively. Rob Corddry, late of the Daily Show, was host. And it wouldn't be a web event without the requisite tribute paid to YouTube wunderkinder Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, the joint recipient of the Webbies' Person of the Year Award.

Perhaps I was expecting too much from this year's show. I came looking for a high-energy alternative to the establishment awards ceremony -- one that would showcase and highlight what was fresh and different this year on the internet, and why.

And truly, there wasn't anything wrong with the Webbies. I had some good chicken and a couple of laughs. But the dizzying number of awards -- I counted 176 winners -- meant too little time to shine the proper light on all the creativity and innovation lurking under the surface.

by Liz Gunnison