One of the most succinct descriptions of Twitter I’ve ever come across was from a mommy blogger who famously opined in April 2009:
“Twitter makes famous people normal and normal people famous.”
As I sat in the audience at this year’s 2nd Annual Shorty Awards at TheTimesCenter in the New York Times Tower (thanks Morris + King!), it dawned on me that her observation couldn’t have been more appropriate.
Twitterers both ‘normal’ and ‘famous’ sat side-by-side that night to celebrate the most innovative uses of the 140-character real-time update. And for an awards ceremony in only its second year of existence, I was quite impressed.
Guests ranged from Newark’s Twitter-savvy Mayor Corey Booker (who won the Government category) to the Birmingham, Alabama food lover @Foodimentary who has built up an army of over 120,000 followers to his quirky Twitter handle. Guests were even treated to a special appearance by Grover, who cheerily accepted the Best Brand award on behalf of @SesameStreet (along with @WholeFoods).
One of the weirdest highlights of the night, of course, was when Annie Scott, who Tweets on behalf of a fictional llama that tells her followers what to do (@DoWhatITellYou), got “Kanye’d” during her acceptance speech by a bearded and belligerent East Side Dave of Sirius XM’s Special Delivery show. Click here to watch the mayhem in all its glory. (Though trust me, this video doesn’t do the actual stage fiasco any justice.)
One of the most moving moments of the night, however—and perhaps the moment when everyone in the room realized the magnitude of the evening—was when Haitian-born Carel Pedre accepted his special Humanitarian Shorty for providing his 9,300 Twitter followers with up-to-the-minute information about the devastation caused by January’s catastrophic earthquake in Haiti.
Despite the few interruptions, host Rick Sanchez from CNN did a fantastic job at keeping the show rolling. And with an entire audience with a built-in 140-character attention span, it was perfectly fitting that every acceptance speech was limited to the size of a succinct Tweet.
The awards ceremony concluded with a special acceptance speech by the Latvian-born Sarasota, Florida native who was awarded with the TwitPic of the Year. Yes, it was Janis Krums who uploaded the now famous iPhone photo of U.S. Airways flight 1549, minutes after its emergency landing in the Hudson River.
So for all 12 of you out there who still think Twitter should be viewed by some as a silly microblogging tool “intended to be a way for self-absorbed egotists to share their most banal and idiotic thoughts with the world,” maybe you should give it another try. 
For a rundown of the top 10 moments from The Shorty Awards, click here.
For a complete list of Shorty Award winners and finalists, click here.
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