This May, The Webby Awards brought our community together to celebrate the contributions of all our Winners as well as the artists, scientists, journalists, and others who used their platforms and creativity to connect, inform, entertain, and inspire the world during the global pandemic. Winners from all over the world participated, creating their own personalized show and then delivering their hallmark 5-Word Speech to share with their friends and family during quarantine. To make the show feel truly personal, we brought our community together to help celebrate. Webby judges, past winners, and friends helped present the awards and create individualized special moments for each winner.

We went into the season with a campaign theme that we thought resonated in a post-truth, misinformation-laden online environment that focused on internet user empowerment. But then COVID happened and we threw it all away.

We spent a huge amount of time discussing how to strike the right balance between celebration, fun, humor, and levity during a time where the entire global population was genuinely scared for their lives. We’re an award show, so we couldn’t be somber. But we also couldn’t be bright and cheery. So we settled with pointing the humor inwards to create an irony-drenched environment where our everyday items were elevated to a status reserved for valuables. We dipped the contents of our confined spaces in gold and celebrated with whatever household items available.