The Shorty Awards, also known as the Shorties, are an annual awards event that honors the best short-form content creators on the micro-blogging website Twitter and on other social media sites. The awards have primarily been sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and are organized by the co-founders of the Brooklyn-based startup company Sawhorse Media. Since their creation in 2008, the awards have expanded beyond Twitter to recognize content creation on other social networking sites, including YouTube, Tumblr, Foursquare, and Facebook.
Twitter users nominate six finalists in each award category, and a panel of expert and celebrity judges choose winners. An awards ceremony is held each spring and streamed live on the official website. Each award recognizes the entire body of work of the content creator, rather than an individual tweet or post. A 2012 Forbes magazine article about the awards commented: "The Shortys recognize that social media is about more than who can get the most followers ... we are creating millions of pieces of new writing that will define our generation. ... These writings ... are creating our history of record."
Read more about Shorty Awards: First Annual Awards, 2009 Winners By Category, Second Annual Awards, 2010 Winners By Category, Third Annual Awards, 2011 Winners By Category, 2012 Winners By Category, 2013 Winners and Finalists By Category