Google-owned, San Bruno, California-based YouTube Incoporated has announced that it will hold the first YouTube Video Awards to recognize the most creative, most inspirational, best series, best comedy, musician of the year, best commentary and most adorable user created videos of 2006. The nominees are picked by YouTube and YouTube community members can vote on their favourites Monday through Friday. The winners will be announced March 25 when they will each be prominently featured on YouTube and receive a trophy, the design of which will be revealed later.
"We wanted to call out some of the most popular videos and let the users choose which ones deserve some additional recognition," said Jamie Byrne, head of product marketing at YouTube. Whether the YouTube Video Awards becomes a permanent, annual affair is likely, Byrne said, but it will depend on how the first awards are received. "We want to see how the community responds to it, but we can see this being something that grows as we continue to grow and becomes a bigger and more exciting event in the future," Byrne said. An in-person ceremony is possible in the future. According to comScore Media Metrix, YouTube attracted 133.5 million visitors worldwide in January.