Among the new categories Shorty Awards producer Sawhorse Media added this year is "Best Presidential Candidate in Social Media." As with all categories, people cast votes using nominees' Twitter handles and hashtags.
"We were following the Iowa Caucus and thought there must be a better way to practice democracy," Sawhorse Media CEO Greg Galant tells Mashable. "It would have been hard to imagine when we founded the Shorty Awards in 2008 that every presidential nominee would be on Twitter, but it's now a reality."
In 2011, participants tweeted more than 750,000 nominations in all categories (politics, entertainment, pop culture, activism, government, technology, news, media, etc.) to recognize influential content creators on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Foursquare and other social networks. Past big-name winners include Conan O'Brien, Sesame Street's Grover, Neil Patrick Harris and NASA."The Shorty Awards are honoring excellence in a medium that some continue to dismiss, at their peril."
Popular vote determines winners in some categories while others are judged by the Real-Time Academy of Short-Form Arts & Sciences, which includes Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley, author and public radio show host Kurt Andersen and actress Alyssa Milano, among others.
"The social media explosion all around us means it's more important than ever to highlight the best and most interesting content," says Sree Sreenivasan, a professor of digital media at Columbia Journalism School and member of the academy. "The Shorty Awards are honoring excellence in a medium that some continue to dismiss, at their peril."
To help nominees promote themselves this year, the Shorty Awards website offers several campaign tools. Returning this year is the Shorty Interview feature (see screenshot below), which in 2011 garnered more than 100,000 answers, including funny ones from celebrities Marlon Waynes and Marlee Matlin.
Because YouTube was the third largest traffic referrer -- behind Twitter and Facebook -- for The Shorty Awards in 2011, producers this year added a way for nominees to embed campaign videos to their nomination pages.
"The Shorty Awards are all about discovering great talent and content," Galant says, "so we want to give people on social media as many tools as possible to get the word out."
Last year, the Short Awards had an offline phase where winners were announced at a gala in New York City. Celebrities Kiefer Sutherland, Conan O’Brien, Neil Patrick Harris and Miss USA Rima Fakih participated in the gala.
Will you be nominating someone for the Shorty Awards?
Shorty Awards Categories
"The 4th Annual Shorty Awards will feature dozens of categories to honor individuals in topics that reflect the power social media has had on politics, entertainment, pop culture, activism, government, technology, news, media and more," Sawhorse Media said in an announcement. Each category is associated with a Twitter hashtag you use when submitting a nominated handle.
Entertainment: #actor #actress #band #bio #celebrity #comedian #director #fansite #movies #music #radio #singer #television #tvshow #webshow #youtubestar
News & Media: #blogger #finance #journalist #magazine #newspaper #pr #videoblogger #weather
Non-profit & Activism: #activism #charity #democracy #green #hero
Government & Politics: #presidentialcandidate #democrat #government #republican #uscongress #worldleader
#SocialFitness Shorty Award: honors an individual who helps others to make healthy choices in their lives through their influence on social media.
#Celebrity of the Year Shorty Award: honors a celebrity whose creative Twitter bio, presence on social media and genuine sharing has helped them tell truer stories about their life and effect on pop culture.
#Weather Shorty Award: honors an individual who does the best job covering the weather on Twitter, the social web and iWitness.
#Hero Shorty Award: honors a Coast Guard member, firefighter, police officer, or anyone else who’s helped to save a life using social media.
#SocialMediaManager Shorty Industry Award: honors a social media manager from a consumer facing brand or agency that has gone above and beyond in managing their brand’s social presence.