12th Annual Webby Award Winners...Nicely done and nicely designed.

I love the Webby Awards. Thought they were a bit cheesy at first but what do I know? I wasn't exactly around when the Oscars got started, maybe people thought they were a bit cheesy too. One of the reasons that I like them so much is because they do put design on a front burner and more and more, especially in the learning and training fields, I am coming to consider design, in all forms, as critical yet seriously under-represented. Anyway, the Webby Awards first caught my eye with their  5 word acceptance speeches. I love the recognition that constraints build creativity. Some of my favs from this year:

• from Treehugger.com: Don't sh*t where you eat.
• from Gamasutra.com:  Art plus science, still games.
• from The Guardian: Please free Alan Johnston now.

The image above is the Webby's Flash gallery to all this year's winners. Love the design. I guess I also like the Webby Awards and other award efforts like the Webware 100 winners and the eduBlog Awards, because they can serve as roadmaps - yes biased and yes open to manipulation but don't get me started on the politics inherent in maps - but maps nonetheless that can serve as starting points for explorations into the leading/bleeding/cutting edge of what people are doing on the Web both from a technological standpoint and from a cultural standpoint.  So use them as that. Don't believe that these efforts find the absolute best on the Web but believe that they probably gather a nice starter set...go from there.