David Bowie and the Beastie Boys were among the winners at a global awards event for the web, digital and interactive media industries, yes, those Webby Awards, which were held in New York this week.
Bowie was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award because, judges say, he has set "the standard for how artists interact with their fans online". The Beastie Boys won an award for their live DVD 'Awesome; I Fuckin Shot That!', a recording made up of footage shot on camcorders by fifty fans in the audience. Judges said the project was "a shining example of user interactivity".
Elsewhere, music recommendation network Last.fm, recently acquired by CBS, took both the judged and public voted awards in the music category, while UK music station BBC Radio 1 took the best radio station website.
In non-music categories the BBC News website picked up both the judged and public voted awards for best online news service, for the third year running, eBay were also presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and The Guardian won Best Newspaper Website. YouTube founders Steve Chen and Chad Hurley, meanwhile, won the Person Of The Year prize.
In a rather nice twist, winners at the Webbys are allowed just five words. eBay CEO Meg Whiteman collected her award by saying "bidding starts at 99 cents". The YouTube types said "YouTubers, this is for you". BBC News Interactive Editor Steve Herrmann used his mini-speech to remind everyone about the continued campaign to secure the safe return of kidnapped BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston with a simple: "Alan, we're thinking of you". The Beastie Boys, meanwhile, said simply "Are we getting paid for this?", which is six words, but they've always been a bit rebellious, those Beastie Boys.