The Webby Awards, commonly called the ‘Oscars of the internet’, has launched a site showcasing previous winners from its 16 year history.
The awards body has partnered with Internet Explorer to launch the Winners Gallery + Archive, an interactive digital history book documenting nominees of past years.
The site, created by design firm Area17, includes a search feature that allows users to see how their favorite ‘Net stuff has stacked up against the competition.
Users can help complete the project. The archive has a crowdsourced element that asks visitors to submit screen grabs and design credits for nominees currently listed without imagery.
The site helps chart the world wide web’s growth over nearly two decades, from text and Gif heavy sites of the 90’s to today’s responsive design and video strewn sites.
In 1997, 70 million people used the Internet (or surfed the web, as we’d say back then) and the Webbys handed out 14 awards. By contrast, in 2012, 2.4 billion people connected to the Internet and the Webby Awards expanded to honor 238 winners.
The nominations for the 17th annual Webby Awards will be announced April 9 and the winners on April 20.
View the Winners+ gallery here
