As those of us trying to make a living in film are keenly aware, online video has progressed way beyond crazy cat antics. And I’m not just talking about the swing from cats to (pizza) rats. I’m talking about the web as a legitimate showcase for high-quality filmic storytelling.

Now in their 20th year, the Webby Awards were one of the first platforms to recognize the value and potential of the form (as they did when they awarded Best Drama series to our own Ryan Koo for The West Side in 2008). Today, Online Film & Video is one of the Webby’s most robust award categories.

The 2016 nominees were announced this week and you can start voting now for one of over 50 video-related awards like Animation, Documentary, VR, Best Editing, and Best Writing.

Exploring the hundreds of outstanding contenders is a fun rabbit hole to go down indeed. (Consider it research for your next project.) Here are a few that stood out to us:

Animation

Mashable - Raqqa: An Inside Story

Virtual Reality - Cinematic

VRSE.Works - Take Flight

 

Documentary Series

Refinery 29 Daughters of Paradise

Comedy: Individual Short or Episode

Fight Club for Kids (with Chuck Palahniuk)

Performance & Craft/Best Editing

Great Guns - Preacherman
 https://vimeo.com/125699378

Header image from 'Raqqa: An Inside Story'

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