The 9th Annual Shorty Awards
April 2017. New York City, Playstation Theater
Now in its 9th year, the Shorty Awards continue to honor the best influencers, celebrities, brands and agencies on social media, across Snapchat, Periscope, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and other platforms. In order to keep up with the competition’s growth, the Shorty Awards upgraded to the PlayStation Theater in the heart of Times Square in New York City for the ceremony on April 23.
Nearly 800 influencers, brands, agencies and guests packed the theater for the ceremony, which featured a cocktail reception, a seated dinner and an after party at Refinery Rooftop. The staged event streamed live on YouTube to over 60,000 viewers internationally, as fans all over the globe tuned in to watch their favorite social media stars.
Tony Hale (Arrested Development and Veep) hosted the show and kept the audience entertained while presenters including Casey Neistat, Bill Nye (The Science Guy!), Skai Jackson, Kaitlyn Bristowe, Kelsey Darragh, and Shay Mitchell gave out the awards. Mitchell and Nye even won their own categories of Best Actress and Best in STEM, respectively.
This was the most competitive show to date, as over 5 million votes poured in from fans all over the world, a record for participation. Winners of the signature Whale-Tail Trophy included Gaten Matarrazo, Doug the Pug, Gigi Gorgeous, Chrissy Teigen, BTS, Mara Wilson and many more! Karlie Kloss was the esteemed recipient of the inaugural Shorty Phenom Award for Kode with Klossy, a summer camp where she works to inspire young girls across America to pursue their interest in computer sciences.
Rising star and R&B/hip-hop artist Lizzo amazed the crowd with energetic performances of her songs “Scuse Me,” “Phone” and “Good as Hell.”
We’re proud to partner with The Shorty Awards for our third year and we wish a huge congratulations to all the winners this year!