Nomination Window Closing for Revamped Streamy Awards

After an almost three-year break, The Streamy Awards will be back in February as a fan-oriented show with revamped categories, a new judging panel and the promise of traditional and new media creators duking it out for honors — and the deadline to submit categories is Friday, Nov. 2.

The web video awards event, produced by Dick Clark Productions and Tubefilter, has named select members of its Blue Ribbon Panel — which decides both the nominees and the winners of awards in most categories. The panel is said to be comprised of more than 150 members and includes Lance Sloan, Head of Digital Programming and Production at Warner Brothers; Anna Robertson, Head of Yahoo! Studios; Tim Shey, Director at Google’s YouTube Next Lab; and Adam Ostrow, Chief Strategy Officer at Mashable. 

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“Online video has rapidly grown up” since the last time the awards were held, Drew Baldwin, the co-creator of the Streamys, told THR in an email. The new show “will reflect the maturation of our industry without losing sight of the creativity, playfulness, and irreverence that makes online video so much fun to watch.” Coca-Cola, which is the presenting sponsor for this year’s awards, has made a “multi-year investment” in the property, he noted.

For its first two shows, the Streamy Awards had been a production of media company Tubefilter that was presented by the International Academy of Web Television. The last show was held at the Orpheum Theater on April 11th 2010  — but drew critical fire for a host of technical and production problems. The IAWTV parted ways with Tubefilter, and now produces its own web awards show which will be held in Las Vegas on January 8th.

In August of last year, Dick Clark Productions — which produces the Golden Globes and the American Music Awards — announced a partnership with Tubefilter to produce The Streamy Awards. Dick Clark Productions was recently acquired by Guggenheim Partners, which is a co-owner of Prometheus Global Media, owner of The Hollywood Reporter.

“The Streamys represents what the future of entertainment is going to be,” said Ariel Elazar, VP of Digital at Dick Clark Productions, in an interview with THR. “Online video is the new pillar of entertainment…A lot of people that are influencers on TV or influencers in movies are not necessarily influencers on the web.”

Baldwin sees the Streamy awards as a “level playing field where true talent—regardless of whether they come from a Hollywood studio or a suburban bedroom—can receive the recognition and the honor it deserves.”

As for finding a broadcast or cable television home for the awards, it is “completely a possibility,” Elazar remarked. Michael Nieporent, Manager of Digital at Dick Clark Productions, added that they are also looking to partner with online distributors to live stream the show. This year’s awards will be held on February 17, 2013 at a bigger venue, the Hollywood Palladium, a week before the Academy Awards is held on Feb 24.

“The show is going to be a better executed show altogether,” Elazar said. Barry Adelman — the executive producer of the Golden Globes, will executive produce this year’s Streamys. Elazar also said that the show is in search of a host who is well-known but who also has “credibility amongst the creator community.”

Several categories of the Streamys have been revamped. The show has added three Audience Choice categories and is encouraging fans to submit their favorite web programs for consideration. The Best Vlogger category has morphed into the Best First Person Series award and the Best Experimental Web Series category from 2010 was dropped from the forthcoming show. 

Another renamed category is the Best News and Culture Series award, which previously was called the Best News or Politics Series. The category is expanding because “you have people like The New York Times doing stuff and then you have Philip De Franco who are really putting together some top notch quality news content for their specific audience,” said Nieporent.

The Streamys is considering adding a Sports category in future shows. “There’s a lot of extreme sports video that gets created and it’s original for the web. Sports is one that we left out for this year, but most definitely be added in the future,” said Elazar.

Below is the selected list of Blue Ribbon Panel members that were named by the Streamy Awards:

Rob Barnett, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, My Damn Channel

David Beebe, VP & GM, Digital Studio, FishBowl WorldWide Media

Eric Berger, Executive Vice President Digital Networks, Sony Pictures Television

Evan Bregman, Director of Digital Media, Electus

Allen DeBevoise, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Machinima

Zadi Diaz, Head of Content Development, Disney Interactive Entertainment

Lisa Donovan, Founder, Maker Studios

Bruce Gersh, President & CEO, FishBowl WorldWide Media

James Haffner, Producer, Defranco Creative

Brad Haugen, Chief Marketing Officer, Scooter Braun Projects

Jim Louderback, Chief Executive Officer, Revision3

Erin McPherson, Vice President and Head of Video, Yahoo!

Adam Ostrow, Chief Strategy Officer, Mashable

Sarah Passe, Business Development, CAA

Sarah Penna, Co-Founder, Big Frame

Tamaya Petteway, Vice President, Brand Marketing and Partnerships, 19 Entertainment

Jenni Powell, Head of Content, VidCon and Producer of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Sam Reich, President of Original Content, CollegeHumor

Keith Richman, Chief Executive Officer, Break Media

Anna Robertson, Head of Yahoo! Studios, Yahoo!

Tim Shey, Director, YouTube Next Lab, Google

Lance Sloane, Head of Digital Programming and Production, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution

George Strompolos, Chief Executive Officer, Fullscreen

Larry Tanz, Chief Executive Officer, Vuguru

Dan Weinstein, Founding Partner, Collective Digital Studios

Brent Weinstein, Head of Digital Media, UTA

Chris Williams, Chief Development Officer, Maker Studios

Steve Woolf, President, Blip Studios & SVP/Content, Blip Networks