YouTube launched its version of the film-industry's People's Choice Awards on Monday, letting the popular video-sharing Web site's community decide the top clips made by users last year.
YouTube Video Awards will be given for original content in the categories of Most Creative; Most Inspirational; Best Series; Best Comedy; Musician of the Year; Best Commentary and Most Adorable Video Ever.
"Our community was at the forefront of the most creative and popular user-generated content in 2006," YouTube director of programming Mia Quagliarello said.
"We want to honor and celebrate the individuals who helped foster the community through their creativity," she said.
Videos were nominated in-house based on how popular they were.
Among the nominees in the first of what YouTube hopes will be an annual awards event were Lonely Girl 15 and Chad Vader for best series; Geriatric1927 for commentary and LisaNova for comedy.
"It was just a breakout year for user-created original content," YouTube spokesman Aaron Ferstman told reporters while discussing the inspiration for the awards. "I think the community is really going to latch onto this."
Voting started on Monday and ends on Friday. The winners will be announced online on Sunday.
Winners will receive trophies and have their videos feature prominently on YouTube, Ferstman said.
"We are hoping to see video acceptance speeches from people who win," Ferstman said.
If the awards are a hit, Google-owned YouTube said it might expand the event to include a real-world ceremony.
YouTube is spotlighting original video content as it defends itself against accusations that it has condoned piracy by not better filtering user clips containing copyrighted film, TV and music.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
STUMPED: KMT and TPP lawmakers approved a resolution to suspend the rate hike, which the government said was unavoidable in view of rising global energy costs The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it has a mandate to raise electricity prices as planned after the legislature passed a non-binding resolution along partisan lines to freeze rates. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers proposed the resolution to suspend the price hike, which passed by a 59-50 vote. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) voted with the KMT. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT said the resolution is a mandate for the “immediate suspension of electricity price hikes” and for the Executive Yuan to review its energy policy and propose supplementary measures. A government-organized electricity price evaluation board in March
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China is mischaracterizing UN Resolution 2758 for its own interests by conflating it with its “one China” principle, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Taiwan Mark Lambert said on Monday. Speaking at a seminar held by the German Marshall Fund, Lambert called for support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the international community at a time when China is increasingly misusing Resolution 2758. The resolution had a clear impact when it changed who occupied the China seat at the UN, Lambert said. “Today, however, the PRC [People’s Republic of China] increasingly mischaracterizes and misuses Resolution 2758 to serve its own interests,” Lambert said. “Beijing