| The 1st Annual Shorty Awards | |
|---|---|
| Date | February 11, 2009 |
| Location | Galapagos Art Space, New York City |
| Hosted by | Rick Sanchez |
The first Shorty Awards ceremony was held on February 11, 2009, at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, New York. Approximately 300 people attended the event.[1] The event was hosted by CNN anchor Rick Sanchez and featured appearances by prominent Twitter users MC Hammer and Gary Vaynerchuk and a video appearance by Shaquille O'Neal.[2][3] The awards, in 26 categories, were voted on by Twitter users.[4][5]
The Shorty Awards were created in 2008 by tech entrepreneurs Greg Galant, Adam Varga, and Lee Semel of Sawhorse Media.[4][6] They invited Twitter account holders to nominate the best Twitter users in general categories such as humor, news, food, and design.[7] Winners were chosen by more than 30,000 Twitter users during the voting period.[4] The founders of Twitter first heard about the awards after the contest had gotten underway and expressed support for it.[4]
The first annual winners by category:[8]
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Best in Advertising | Peggy Olson, @PeggyOlson |
| Best in Apps | brightkit, @brightkit |
| Best Brand | Action Wipes, @MarthaVan |
| Best in Business | Paw Luxury, @PawLuxury |
| Best in Design | Yiying Lu, @yiyinglu |
| Best in Education | RubyLearning, @RubyLearning |
| Best in Entertainment | Flashlight Worthy Books, @FLWBooks |
| Best in Finance | StockTwits, @StockTwits |
| Best in Food | Foodimentary, @foodimentary |
| Best in Green | green jaden @greenjaden on twitter |
| Best in Health | Debra Wendler, @ADHDParenting |
| Best in Humor | Charles Trippy, @charlestrippy |
| Best in Music | Hunter Burgan, @tranquilmammoth |
| Best in News | BNO News, @BreakingNewsOn |
| Best in Nonprofits | Athletes for a Cure, @athletes4acure |
| Best Personal | Arleen Boyd, @AlohaArleen |
| Best in Photography | Kyle Reese, @Twipphoto |
| Best in Politics | Justin Hart, @justin_hart |
| Best in Science | NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, @MarsPhoenix |
| Best in Social Media | Dan Zarrella, @danzarrella |
| Best in Sports | Jackie, @girlwithnoname |
| Best in Startups | Hanniversary, @hanniversary |
| Best in Tech | Twitter Tips, @Twitter_Tips |
| Best in Travel | Cruise Source, @cruisesource |
| Best in Video Games | Justin McElroy, @justinmcelroy |
| Best in Weird | Martin Sargent, @martinsargent |