Harry Styles, Selena Gomez, Lizzo, ‘Ted Lasso,’ Gucci Among 2023 Webby Noms

Harry Styles, Selena Gomez, Lizzo, the cast of “Ted Lasso” and Gucci are among the nominees for the 27^th annual Webby Awards, which celebrate creators and brands leading the conversation at the intersection of tech and culture.

Created by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, this year’s Webby winners will be announced April 25 and feted at an event May 15 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York.

Additional personality nominees include BTS, BLACKPINK, Doja Cat, Anderson Cooper, Drake and Future, Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, MrBeast, Lupita Nyong’o, Cristiano Ronaldo, RuPaul, Kara Swisher and Serena Williams.

Amazon
AMZN
, Apple
AAPL
, Audible, Canva, CNN, Coinbase, Disney, Duolingo, Electronic Arts
EA
, ESPN, Etsy, Google
GOOG
, Gucci, HBO, Headspace, Lingokids, LinkedIn, Monday.com, Mozilla, MTV, NASA, National Geographic, NBA, Netflix
NFLX
, OpenAI, Paramount
PARA
, Public, Rebel Girls, Reddit, WeTransfer, Stray, Sesame Street, Spotify, UNFPA, WaitWhat, The Washington Post and Wondery are among companies and organizations that garnered a nomination.

“The Webbys is in a unique position—every year we have the opportunity to see pivotal industry trends play out through our nominees,” said Ciel VanderVeen, managing director of the awards. “This year was no exception; not only were we blown away by the creativity and quality of the work, but we were inspired by the teams that created new innovations with AI technologies, built new responsible products, and so much more.”

Reflecting the industry’s focus on artificial intelligence, this year’s nominees include work from companies including OpenAI, The New Bing, DeepMind: The Podcast, RoboKiller and Adobe
ADBE
. Nominated brands and agencies are also using machine learning to connect with consumers via campaigns including Sherwin Williams Speaking in Color, and Heinz Ketchup AI.

Trend-setting, of course, is a key component of the Webbys. Recess Therapy’s viral breakout It’s Corn; HBO’s Negroni Sbagliato TikTok video; Doja Cat’s Taco Bell, Contractually Obligated Mexican Pizza Jingle; and Annapurna Interactive’s game Stray are among nominees.

So are social accounts. This year’s nomination batch includes Jennifer Garner’s Instagram; Quen Blackwell’s comedic TikTok; Barack Obama x ATTN: – Power of Your Vote in 2022 video; and Animals in Therapy. Podcasts including SmartLess, The Problem with Jon Stewart, Pod Save America, Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, The Right Time With Bomani Jones and Story Pirates.

The Webbys this year introduced a new suite of honors recognizing work in Responsible Technology as part of a new initiative to inspire the community of creators and innovators to build more responsible and inclusive digital ecosystems.

New categories for Accessible Technology, Responsible Information, Responsible Innovation and Sustainable Technology were developed in collaboration with industry experts and spotlight key areas where the industry is responding to issues with responsible solutions. These inaugural categories recognize work from Mozilla, Consumer Reports, Google, Human Rights Watch and more.

Also new this year is Podcast Company of the Year, which will recognize the company with the most nominations and wins across the podcast categories. Organizations in contention include Audible (13), Wondery (8), WaitWhat (7) and iHeartMedia
IHRT
(5).

Media organizations in contention for Webby Media Company of the Year, an honor presented to the media company that performs best across all Webby Awards categories, are MTV Entertainment (15), National Geographic (14), The Washington Post (12), CNN (12), HBO (12) and Vox Media (11).

This year’s awards received nearly 14,000 entries from more than 70 countries. The organizations earning the highest number of nominations this year include: Apple (22), MTV (15), National Geographic (14), Netflix (14), Audible (13), CNN (12), HBO (12), The Washington Post (12), Google (11), Meta (11), Amazon (10), Amazon Music (9), WaitWhat (9), ESPN (8), Paramount (8), Spotify (8) and Wondery (8).

Webby nominees are selected by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, whose members include Questlove, DJ and producer; Tan France, fashion designer and TV personality; Natalie Guzman, co-president/CMO, Savage X Fenty; Werner Vogels, CTO, Amazon; Roxanne Gay, host of The Roxanne Gay Agenda; Quinta Brunson, writer, director and actor; Ziwe Fumudoh, comedian and writer; Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code; LeVar Burton, actor, podcaster and TV host; Samantha Bee, comedian and TV personality; and Tracy Chou, founder & CEO, Block Party.