Byrne and Michaels to Be Saluted
Alongside Stephen Colbert, will.i.am,
and Michel Gondry at June Webby
Ceremonies
New York, NY (May 28, 2008) The
Webby Awards will honor David Byrne
and Lorne Michaels for lifetime
achievement at Webby ceremonies this
June in
New York City, organizers announced
today.
At The 12th Annual Webby Awards on
June 10th, Byrne will be presented
with
a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award
for a visionary career pushing the
boundaries of music, art, and
technology, for more than three
decades. Since
co-founding the Talking Heads in the
1970's, Byrne has consistently been
at
the forefront of multimedia
experimentation, from his celebrated
PowerPoint
art to his popular Internet radio
station and blog to his latest
endeavor, "Playing the Building"
converting a landmark New York City
building into a giant, interactive
musical instrument.
Michaels will be honored at The
Webby Film and Video Awards on June
9th in
recognition of his groundbreaking
work with SNL Digital Shorts, which
jumpstarted the online video
revolution in 2005 with "Lazy
Sunday," one of
the first videos to become a viral
hit on both YouTube and NBC.com.
Having
reinvented television comedy with
Saturday Night Live starting in
1975,
Michaels' influence can be seen in
the popular formats of today's
online
comedy, from fake newscasts to
political parodies.
"David and Lorne both turned popular
culture on its head in the late
1970s
and each of them have continued to
push the envelope for more than
three
decades," said David-Michel Davies,
executive director of The Webby
Awards. "It's an honor to salute
these two visionaries for careers
that
consistently challenge, surprise,
and inspire audiences around the
world."
Byrne and Michaels will be saluted
alongside Webby Award winners in a
wide
range of categories from Blog to
Fashion to Weird, as well as four
other
Special Achievement honorees
Stephen Colbert (Person of the
Year), Michel
Gondry (Film and Video Person of the
Year) will.i.am (Artist of the Year)
and
Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim,
a.k.a "Tim and Eric" (Best Actor).
Hailed as the "Internet's highest
honor" by the New York Times, The
Webby
Awards is presented by the
International Academy of Digital
Arts and
Sciences, a 550-person judging
academy whose members include Vinton
Cerf,
Arianna Huffington, Matt Groening,
and Harvey Weinstein.
Byrne and Michaels will be honored
at two New York City ceremonies: The
12th Annual Webby Awards on June
10th featuring Seth Meyers of
Saturday
Night Live as host; and The Webby
Film and Video Awards on June 9th
with
Judah Friedlander of 30 Rock as
emcee. In keeping with Webby
tradition,
winners will be limited to five-word
acceptance speeches. Past speeches
include Al Gore ("Please don't
recount this vote"), Beastie Boys
("Can anyone
fix my computer?"), and Prince
("Everything you think is true").
Hailed as the "Internet's highest
honor" by the New York Times, The
Webby
Awards is the leading international
award honoring excellence on the
Internet,
including Websites, interactive
advertising, online film and video,
and mobile
web sites. Established in 1996, the
12th Annual Webby Awards received
nearly 10,000 entries from all 50
states and over 60 countries
worldwide. The
Webby Awards is presented by The
International Academy of Digital
Arts and
Sciences. Sponsors and Partners of
The Webby Awards include: Adobe; The
Creative Group; Nokia; .ORG; Level
3; Getty Images; The Barbarian
Group;
Digital Kitchen; Adweek; Variety;
Wired; IDG; Pequot Ventures;
Brightcove;
PricewaterhouseCoopers;
2advanced.Net; KobeMail and Museum
of the
