The winners of the 11th annual Webby Awards were announced today, and in our business, all eyes were on the Online Film & Video group of categories, where we had four nominations in play. For every category, there’s a juried award and one chosen by popular vote, and sometimes both go to the same nominee, but most of the time they’re different.

Fast Lane Daily, our daily automotive news network, won the People’s Voice Award for the Sports category, in a category that also included nominees from CBS Sportsline, Heavy, and HBO Sports. Congratulations to everyone here at Next New Networks who worked on Fast Lane Daily this past year, especially the core team of Emil, Mike, Ian, Alan, Gene, and Derek D, the ultimate good sport. Below is a special video the team created for the Webby judges and voting public, and it’s a fun recap of how far they’ve come.

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Josh- Our Man of the Year

Veracifier’s star Josh Marshall and TPM won a George Polk journalism award yesterday for their reporting on the federal prosecutors firing scandal in 2007. Traditional journalism accolades such as the Polk underline that bloggers like Josh are proving the success of old fashioned gum shoe journalism through the medium of new media. A huge congratulations to TPM. We continue to be proud to be associated with them.

With the new year craziness, I don’t think we’ve had a chance to properly roll out the welcome mat or celebrate this, but recently Corinne and Rob of ThreadBanger renown have made the big move from Florida to New York, following the trajectory of other awesomely talented people like Erik Beck, Justin Johnson, and Scott Moschella that we’ve managed to entice here, despite cold winters (well, not today), ridiculous rents, and near-constant giant monster attacks. We’re a little used to seeing Rob and Corinne around, since they’ve visited here probably more than any other producers, but the last few days it’s been great to run into them around the offices and realize they’re not leaving.

I can’t wait to see what kinds of great things happen with them sharing space with Indy Mogul and Channel Frederator, to name a couple networks (and maybe they’ll finally improve Derek D’s wardrobe on Fast Lane Daily), but until then, it’s as good a time as any to point out their awesome end of 2007 episode, where they counted down some of the amazing moments of their first almost-year. Though I might have to fight with some people on the forums for the biggest fan title, I’m really proud to be ThreadBanger’s first fan, if only because I got to see their first episode before anyone else (that I know of). Congratulations, Thread Heads, and welcome to the Big Apple. We’re so glad to have you here.

When I worked in film, the dream goal was always to win an Oscar. When I worked in television, it was to win an Emmy. Now I spend my days plotting how to win a WEBBY!

The 12th Annual Webby Awards are swiftly approaching and the deadline to submit is going to be here any second! For all of you immensely talented creators, plotters, and doers of online video, your deadline for submission is JANUARY 25, 2008.

Once you submit, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences will select the nominees and winners for the 2008 Webby Awards, and hold the ceremony in early June (an event I swear you don’t want to miss).

Last year many people I know were nominated (eghem: JetSet now EpicFu, itsallinyourhands.com, and Big Fantastic…just to name a few), with several picking up the Webby. With that track record, and the year that all of us just had, I can only imagine the number of people I’ve met that will grab a Webby for themselves.

The categories were expanded from last year to accommodate the ever-expanding world of online video:

• Animation
• Comedy: Individual Short or Episode
• Comedy: Long Form or Series
• Documentary: Individual Episode
• Documentary: Series
• Drama: Individual Episode
• Drama: Series
• Events and Live Broadcasts
• Experimental
• How-To and DIY
• Music
• News & Politics: Individual Episode
• News & Politics: Series
• Public Service and Activism
• Reality
• Sports
• Student
• Technology
• Travel
• Variety
• Viral

The ONLY catch would be you actually have to submit to win. So here it is, I’m telling ALL of you how awesomely creative and talented you are, and that I think you have a chance. So make it happen!

I only have one piece of advice: You better be on your game when choosing your “five words.”

Good Luck!

After getting suggestions from everyone in the office over the last couple of weeks, here’s a list of Next New Network’s must-see moments of 2007. Everyone had a lot of favorite episodes, so this particular top 10 is as arbitrary as any — but it at least gives an idea of the kind of fun we had this year.

2007 was a great year for us. We passed 100 million views, learned a lot, and made a lot of new friends — by any count, millions of people have seen the little white robot on the end of a video they loved this year. Thanks to everyone who’s been watching and reading this blog, and we can’t wait to entertain you more in 2008.

Without futher ado, here’s the list…

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