A 30th anniversary Webby Awards season is here, and with it comes the annual reminder that the internet can turn just about anything into prestige content.
Cardi B, Steph Curry, Dwayne Johnson and Justin Bieber are among this year’s nominees, alongside one especially memorable entry built around the use of Sydney Sweeney’s bathwater in a limited-edition soap from Dr. Squatch.
The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences announced the nominations on Tuesday, drawing from more than 13,000 entries submitted from over 70 countries. The Associated Press got an early look at the list.
The biggest names, the biggest numbers
Webby nominations also went to the social media teams behind political figures including New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Kendall Jenner’s Super Bowl campaign for Fanatics Sportsbook, “Bet on Kendall,” which leaned into her supposed bad luck dating athletes, picked up three nominations.
Jenner will face Sweeney in the category for best viral PR campaigns. Sweeney’s entry comes from the soap promotion that encouraged fans to lather up with a product tied to her bathwater, which is exactly the kind of sentence the internet occasionally insists on making real.
The Webby Awards are divided into eight major groups: games, podcasts, website and mobile sites, video and film, apps and software, AI, and advertising, media and PR.
Winners will be announced on April 21. The ceremony, hosted by Josh Johnson, a correspondent and writer for The Daily Show, is set for May 11 in New York.
Google led all organizations with 46 nominations. PBS followed with 29. Apple and The Walt Disney Company each received 23, while NBCUniversal and Netflix each landed 22.
Hot sauce vodka, couture croissants and other internet oddities
A batch of this year’s stranger viral products also made the cut.
Recognized for their reach and shareability were Absolut’s Tabasco-flavored vodka, Ricola’s limited-edition scarf infused with what the company called its “signature Swiss alpine herbs,” and two food-inspired fashion items: Panera Bread’s Croissant Clutch handbag and Lidl’s Eau de Croissant fragrance.
Duolingo once again found a way to dominate attention by staging the fake death of its mascot owl, Duo. The campaign prompted Dua Lipa to respond on X with “Til’ death duo part,” and it earned nominations for best PR campaign and best use of earned media.
Lipa is not just observing from the sidelines. Apple’s documentation of a full day on her Radical Optimism tour earned her a Webby nomination of her own.
The final season of Stranger Things was already a major cultural event, and its promotion added to the noise. One nominated campaign included a mobile scavenger hunt in which users tapped a 20-sided die to enter the Upside Down. That work earned three nominations.
Google Maps and Spotify were also part of a nominated campaign designed to help Bad Bunny fans track down song titles from his album Debí Tirar Más Fotos.
Steph Curry’s Los Angeles billboard got a nomination after going viral for the way it appears to show him shooting at the moon. LeBron James also landed in the mix, with an Amazon commercial that imagines him exploring post-basketball careers such as barber and lounge singer. That spot was nominated for best collaboration.
The academy chooses the winners, while the Webby People’s Voice Award is decided by fans worldwide. Voting for that award is open until April 16.
Music videos, makeovers and very committed brand work
In the music video category, Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” is competing against Sabrina Carpenter’s “Tears,” Rosalía’s “Berghain,” Little Simz’s “Young’” and Claude’s “C’est La Vie,” which also appeared at the Eurovision Song Contest. Lamar won the Webby for music video last year for “Not Like Us.”
Benedict Cumberbatch, a two-time Oscar nominee, received two nominations for reading Amazon customer reviews with full dramatic seriousness as part of the second chapter of the company’s “Five Star Theater” campaign.
Blackpink’s Lisa was nominated for leading a group of professional ballerinas and dancers in a NikeSKIMS ad that inspired a small flood of recreations on TikTok. Global girl group Katseye earned a nod for their Gap commercial, “Better in Denim.”
Johnson’s surprise visit to the Apalachee High School football team after a school shooting was nominated in the best long-form video category.
Lady Gaga’s Spotify Q&A, in which she answered fan questions about making her album Mayhem, was nominated for best events and livestream social campaign.
Food creator Nick DiGiovanni picked up two nominations. One was for putting MrBeast through culinary boot camp, a post that drew more than 71 million views. The other was for cooking for animals, including a lion. MrBeast also earned a nomination for the animated short series MrBeast Lab.
The team behind a Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest that drew thousands of people, including Chalamet himself, was recognized as well. Chalamet also received a nomination for his Cash App ad, which featured a giant prickly tropical fruit and landed in the branded entertainment short-form video and film category.
Justin Bieber’s Twitch livestream showing behind-the-scenes preparation for his Coachella headlining set was nominated for community engagement. Sonic’s ad featuring Terry Crews teaching acting to athletes earned a nomination for best long-form branded entertainment.
Podcasts, politics and milk disputes
The podcast category brings its own familiar mix of celebrity, self-help and sports talk.
Nominations for best feature podcast host went to:
- Good Hang with Amy Poehler
- Next Question with Katie Couric
- The Mel Robbins Podcast
- Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky
- Baby, This is Keke Palmer
Palmer’s show was also nominated in the interview or talk show category for entertainment and culture, alongside Thanks Dad with Ego Nwodim, All There Is with Anderson Cooper, Office Ladies and Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard.
The sports podcast nominees are Pablo Torre Finds Out, All the Smoke, New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce, Bussin’ With the Boys and 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony.
Cardi B’s rollout for her album Am I The Drama? picked up two nominations, including one for a stunt in which she sold the album for $9.99 along with incense on a street in Harlem.
Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco’s short film I Said I Love You First was nominated, and Gomez’s Rare Beauty line was also recognized.
Science communicator and new mother Emily Calandrelli earned a nomination after a dispute with the TSA over her breast pump and stored milk led to the campaign hashtag #HandsOffOurMilk.
Former Saturday Night Live cast member Bowen Yang and actor Matt Rogers were nominated after their NBC Olympics podcast Two Guys, Five Rings included a conversation with Sesame Street characters about the Olympics.
So yes, the internet has once again produced a nomination list that includes sports stars, pop musicians, TV favorites, political teams, fake mascot deaths and bathwater soap. Standards have been maintained.
