YouTube to Give Its Own Awards

Mar 20, 04:57 AM

Current Headlines: Lonelygirl15, OK Go and other YouTube sensations will get an opportunity to walk down a virtual red carpet.

The video-sharing Web site announced today that it will hold the first YouTube Video Awards to recognize the best-user created videos of 2006. The awards will be handed out in seven categories: most creative, most inspirational, best series, best comedy, musician of the year, best commentary and "most adorable video ever."

The nominees, picked by YouTube, are compiled in a gallery at www.youtube.com/YTAwards. YouTube community members can vote on their favorites beginning today and concluding Friday. The winners, as chosen by the community, will be announced March 25. Each will be prominently featured on YouTube and receive a to-be-designed trophy.

Success on the site has previously been defined largely by rankings of the most-viewed or most-discussed videos.

"We wanted to call out some of the most popular videos and let the users choose which ones deserve some additional recognition," said Jamie Byrne, head of product marketing at YouTube.

Among the nominees are noted "vloggers" Paul Robinett ("Renetto") and Peter Oakley ("Geriatric1927"). The comedy of Barats and Bereta, and Smosh, is also nominated, as are series such as Lonelygirl15's and "Ask a Ninja." The power pop band OK Go is perhaps the most professional of the nominees; it's nominated for the famous treadmill-choreographed music video, "Here It Goes Again."

According to comScore Media Metrix, YouTube attracted 133.5 million visitors worldwide in January.

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