26th Annual Webby Awards
Empire produced the 26th Annual Webby Awards at Cipriani Wall Street in NYC on Monday, May 16, 2022. The full show is available to view now at watch.webbyawards.com
After two years of being a virtual event due to the pandemic, the energy in the room was tangible as the best of the best on the internet gathered to be honored for their work online.
Empire booked Roy Wood Jr. (from the Daily Show with Trevor Noah) to host the show, and his tech-savvy monologue brought the house down.
Winners and presenters at the event this year included Megan Thee Stallion, Ben Stiller, Drew Barrymore, Takashi Murakami, Questlove and many more. The Webbys are considered the Internet’s highest honor, and the show is renowned for allowing winners just 5 words for their acceptance speeches. This year’s winners showed just how powerful and clever so few words can be:
• Professor Anita Hill accepting the Webby Award for her Public Service & Activism, General Series (Podcasts): “Take equality seriously, for real.”
• Adam Scott accepting the Webby Award for Best Actor addressing the recently leaked Supreme Court draft that would overturn Roe v. Wade: “Supreme Court…..eat my shorts”
• Laverne Cox accepting the Advocate of the Year Award: “Transgender. Unstoppable. Beautiful. Belongs. Everywhere.”
• Chef Gordon Ramsay: “No cursing tonight? F*ck me!!!”
Empire was proud to once again have the show feature a stage and set designed by David Korins Design (the creative force behind the scenic design on shows such as Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and Beetlejuice, as well as the 2022 Academy Awards). Empire produced nearly all aspects of the event, from the Red Carpet, the Media Lounge where winners went for interviews and portraits, and of course the show itself.
Empire is honored to have been chosen to produce every live Webby Awards event since 2005, and we consider the Webby Awards team part of the Empire family.
For more information on this year’s Webbys, check out #Webbys across Instagram, Twitter and TikTok to catch up on the fun, and watch the show now!
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
