NEW YORK The Webby Awards has for the first time in its decade-long history created prizes to honor advertising.
The show, held in June, will honor winners in 15 new categories, including banners, campaigns and applications.
MDC Partners' Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Interpublic Group's R/GA led agencies with five nominations each. Crispin was nominated for five banner executions on behalf of Volkswagen and Slim Jim. R/GA garnered four nominations for Nike work and one for an Avaya Web video series. Its Rockstar Workout for Nike Women, a video site that lets users interact with the content, is up for a branded content prize.
Digital luminaries, including R/GA CEO Bob Greenberg and Tribal DDB CEO Matt Freeman, will judge the awards, set to be announced May 1. Each category will also have a People's Voice award, based on votes tallied at peoplesvoice.webbyawards.com.
Interactive advertising is one of three new awards categories for the Webbys. It also added awards in mobile media and online film.