Circul8 duo to go on stage at Webby Awards

June 1 2009, 11:07 am | BY Lynchy | 3 Comments

Picture 139.pngA ground swell of Australian support has rocketed Australian web developers on to the stage at this year’s coveted Webby Awards, to be held Monday June 8 in New York.

 

Circul8 directors Alana Stocks and Jamie Madden are in New York this week to accept what the New York Times hailed as ‘the internet’s highest honor’ and will be one of only 20 winners to make a five word acceptance speech and the only Australian company on stage.

 

This year, the Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from over 60countries. 70 Webby winners were selected and only 20 given space inthe programme to make their five word acceptance speech.

To get on stage the winners had to demonstrate support from web users. Circul8 created a viral campaign which asked for five words from Australians to weave into a whale of a tale.

Says Circul8 director Alana Stocks: “The support was amazing, so wesent it to the Webby organizers and now we are heading to New York tosay our piece. Power to the people! We are proud of our winningSave-the-Whale campaign and the message it promotes and want to shareit widely.”

 

Circul8 will accept the Best RICH MEDIA (Non-Profit Educational category) of the year for their Greenpeace Save-A-Whale campaign 

 

Since nominated for the Webby there have been 30,000 new signatures tothe Save-A-Whale Greenpeace petition which sends email messages andelectronic origami whales to the Japanese Prime Minister to urge him tostop whaling. Overall 80,000 people have sent an anti-whaling messageto Japan through the site since the start of the campaign.

 

“The Webby Awards honors the very best of the Internet,” saidDavid-Michel Davies, executive director of The Webby Awards. “Circul8’swin is a testament to the skill, ingenuity, and vision of its creators.”

 

The star-studded ceremony hosted by Saturday Night Live’s Seth Meyerswill be held on June 8th in New York City and on June 9th, fans will beable to watch the ceremony, including Circul8’s five-word speech, atthe official Webby Awards YouTube Channel.