In Second Year, Shorty Awards Get A Bit More Formal

“I just wanted to beat Jason Mraz,” said indie-rocker Ted Leo when we asked him why he decided to make a push to win the Shorty Award’s music category.

The awards, now in their second year, honor “the best producers of short, real-time content” on Twitter. Getting a bit more formal, this year’s awards were hosted at The New York Times‘ TimesCenter. Last year’s location was the Galapagos Art Space in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn.

While Twitter is an online bastion for PR professionals, the closest thing to a PR category is advertising, which was won by @frankadman.

Kristin Maverick of agency Attention was on hand to cheer on client Suze Orman, who won in the finance category.

Host Rick Sanchez of CNN kept things moving, and even poked fun at a recent Daily Show segment that mocked his coverage of the recent Chile earthquake and potential tsunami.

“I think the reason they chose me [to host] is because I’m a guy who does things fast,” he said. “The proof is there…Jon Stewart said that I remind him of a guy who is high on cocaine at a party.”

The awards ranged from the very serious, such as Haitian radio host Carle Pedre, who won for his coverage of the recent earthquake that took place in his country, to the totally not serious, such as “The Llama,” which won in the “weird” category.

The complete list of winners is posted on the award’s Website.

FishbowlNY’s Alex Alvarez was there as well. Read her recap here.

[Image: CNN's Rick Sanchez chats with Sesame Street's Grover. Courtesy oficialivetesangalo on Flickr]

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