The Lovie Awards are thrilled to honour Annie Lennox with The Lovie Person of the Year Award in recognition of her expert and relentless use of social media to leverage her platform and outreach to create a better world for others. She proves by example that the Internet can be utilised as a highly effective tool to amplify messaging in terms of global advocacy and activism. Her efforts abound, from working with organisations such as Oxfam, Amnesty International, Comic Relief, Greenpeace, 46664, UNAIDS and The British Red Cross, among countless others, as well as promoting gender empowerment through the organisation she founded, The Circle.ngo.
The Lovie Awards are privileged to honour Yann LeCun with a Lovie Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a pioneer in the creation of neural networks. LeCun’s contributions to the science of machine learning, mobile robotics and computational neuroscience among other learned fields, is legendary. As a founder of Neural Nets, LeCun applied biological methods of perception to computer processors. Currently continuing his forward-thinking work as the Head of Artificial Intelligence at Facebook, LeCun is poised to see his genius bear inventive innovations to the social media platform that will affect a global user base. As he continues to inform and experiment with the future of mediums such as the incredibly fast-growing arena of machine learning, LeCun’s work will only improve upon the already impressive technologies he has brought to fruition.
The Lovie Awards are thrilled to honour Romain Gavras with The Lovie Artist of the Year Award in recognition of his embrace of digital culture and the Internet as the venue for creating and sharing experimental art and original video. With a big career as a music video director for artists like Kanye West and M.I.A., Gavras’ latest video for Jamie XX, “Gosh,” which debuted on Apple Music, cements him into the canon of modern artists who are fearlessly creating work for a global online audience with unabashed vision. Gavras portrays a dystopian landscape in “Gosh,” bringing up themes of abandonment, robots, ghosts and more, and creates a captivating world that draws viewers in immediately. With the remarkable artistic decision to cast 400 people and to forgo any CGI or 3D effects, Gavras turned out a stunning work of art that ranks among one of the most visually appealing, and interesting, original online music videos today.
The Lovie Awards are thrilled to honour Süddeutsche Zeitung with a Lovie Be Greater With Data Award for publishing the Panama Papers story. The report is the result of the largest data leak in history, which SZ brought to light after months of collaborative online reporting and research by a team of journalists around the world. The size of the leak—2.6 terabytes of data spread over 11.5 million documents—did not deter SZ from tackling the content that eventually revealed the enormous track record of clandestine dealings of 214,000 shell companies. Rising to the challenge, SZ organised a global team of reporters in partnership with ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) to collaboratively parse, annotate and research the data, primarily via a special online system—one where journalists could safely communicate memos, posts, annotations and chats with one another, while working towards the goal of breaking this incredible story in unison before the world.With the Panama Papers’ online research and reporting system, SZ set a new standard for the kind of online collaboration that is essential to uncovering the truth.
The Lovie Awards are thrilled to honour Patricia Bright as The Lovie Internet Video Person of the Year. As someone with a homegrown YouTube channel who has crossed into mainstream media and online culture, Patricia is no stranger to fame. But it’s her genuine and very open-minded point of view of the world that makes her stand out from other beauty bloggers. She lets viewers into her world without hesitation, cataloguing her journey from student to married working mother of a young baby, inclusive of all the challenges and joy that journey brings. Patricia’s kindness and warmth comes through in all that she does, and her videos prove she’s not afraid to share personal stories even when the subject matter may be upsetting or difficult. Patricia inspires and gives voice to younger women everywhere who can find unlimited positivity, comfort and mentorship in her presence across the social web, especially through video.
The Lovie Awards are thrilled to honour Rose Ellen Dix and Rosie Spaughton with the inaugural Lovie Creators for Change Award, developed in partnership with YouTube and the YouTube Creators for Change Programme. The award honours creators whose work exemplifies the programme mission: to use the global power of online video to combat misunderstanding, fear and intolerance on the Internet. Rose and Rosie's positive content and open dialogue around LGBT issues do just this. With comedy throughout, they share nearly everything about their life together, showing without telling that honesty and open-mindedness are some of the most important ingredients in spreading a message of equality far and wide. Together, they show no fear in discussing what can be difficult subjects, from sexuality to discrimination, and it’s this unabashed liberal attitude that engages their audiences time and again, and inspires continual conversation.
The Lovie Awards are thrilled to honour Bas van Abel, Tessa Wernink, and Miquel Ballester as The Lovie Emerging Entrepreneurs, in recognition of their enterprising work as the Co-Founders of Fairphone. Fairphone may be young, but it is one of the most intrepid companies in the world. In an effort to reduce the environmental harm done to our planet through the production of smartphones, each Fairphone is produced with innovative technologies, modular parts, and reliably sourced materials, meant to deliver an everlasting phone to consumers. Their socially-enterprising endeavor is an example of futurism put into practice; it is Fairphone’s cause to simultaneously push the technology of smartphones forward while minimising harm to the planet, thus taking a stance on consumerism in our culture while assuming a proactive role in protecting our climate and promoting fair trade practices.
The Lovie Awards are thrilled to honour Cheil Germany with the first ever Lovie Agency of the Year Award. With 2 Golds,1 Silver, 3 People’s Lovie Awards and 5 works Shortlisted, including #BeFearless VR, VR The Future, Innovating Evolution, and Lufthansa City Navigator, Cheil Germany earned more Lovie Awards and Shortlist nods across all categories than any other agency this year.
