Monday, March 16, 2009

SXSW Web Awards | 2009

More than 12,000 online voters selected this year's People's Choice Award at the SXSW Interactive Festival. And the winner is Lost Zombies.

The five day event in Austin, Texas celebrated the best minds and the brightest personalities of emerging technology.

The judges selected their favorite from the 18 finalists. And the winner is We Tell Stories.

Web Award Winners

Here are the 18 categories along with the winning website and the category definition:

Activism | Tweet Congress
Green and Non-profit websites that are striving to make the world a better place.

Amusement | Addictionary
Humor, memes and all the stuff that is weird for the sake of weird.

Art | Things I Have Learned in my Life, So Far
From traditional photography to untraditional performances, this category focuses on web-based collections of life, society and culture.

Blog | The Bygone Bureau
Sites that revolutionize the power of publishing by providing regularly updated content of a personal or professional nature.

Business | Jasmax
Sites devoted to the promotional needs, functions and services of for-profit businesses.

CSS | ProjectMiso
This category showcases sites that push the boundaries of CSS coding technology, bringing together top-notch design and content with standards compliant and accessible code.

Classic | Flickr
While the SXSW Interactive Web Awards focus on the best new Internet destinations, this category is devoted to sites that launched before January 1, 2008.

Community | Lost Zombies
Social networks and wikis that have quickly developed an extraordinarily active multi-user community and an exceptional following of users who assist with content development.

Educational Resource | The Cycle
From elementary school learning to advanced technology-related tips, these are sites that help you learn.

Experimental | We Tell Stories
These are cutting-edge and trend-setting destinations that are pushing the envelope and challenging our perceptions of the web.

Film / TV | Hulu
Sites related to actors, television, films and the film industry, as well as destinations that offer streaming video content.

Games | Why So Serious? The Dark Knight Alternate Reality Game
The online destinations that help make your life a lot more fun.

Mobile | Gigotron
Sites optimized for handheld and portable devices.

Motion Graphics | NVIDIA Speak Visual
Animations, cartoons, and other intriguing content built using applications such as Adobe / Macromedia Flash.

Music | James Zabiela
Sites related to musicians, bands, and the music industry, as well online radio and other destinations that offer streaming audio content.

Personal Portfolio | Ali Felski
The portfolios, pet projects and personal collections of individuals who are displaying their work and passions online.

Student | Modernity Spirit of Experimentation
This category is devoted exclusively to the student web designers who are refreshing this industry with new talent and new ideas.

Technical Achievement | Aviary
These are the sites that are re-inventing and re-defining the technical parameters of our online experience.

Implication

Web designers and developers can scan the Web Award Winners and the Five Finalists in each category to stimulate the flow of creative approaches to resolving current design challenges.

Then, get busy designing the next award-winning website. The cost to enter this year's competition was a mere $10 and the deadline was mid-October. Check out the Web Awards FAQ for additional details.

[ NOTE: You can now search more than 240 articles in the Beantown Web database by using the Google search box in the right-hand column. ] >>>