The 19th Annual Webby Awards

May 2015. New York City, Cipriani Wall Street

Empire produced 19th Annual Webby Awards on May 18, 2015. This marked the 11th consecutive year Empire has partnered with Recognition Media on the annual event, which celebrates excellence on the Internet and famously limits winners to acceptance speeches of just five words.

"This is the only awards show where the descriptions of the awards are longer than the speeches," said comedian and host Hannibal Buress.

As usual, the show included some funny and irreverent moments, such as when Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's Ellie Kemper accepted for Best Actress and used her five words to say, "So excited. Live-streaming my pants." Or when Chelsea Peretti, accepting for Outsanding Comedic Performance quipped, "The Internet must be stopped."

The ceremony had its more serious touches as well. "Create change, like a girl," said account executive Shaina Holtz, accepting the Agency of the Year award on behalf of Leo Burnett Toronto. And in a heartfelt tribute to the late New York Times media columnist David Carr, CNN's Brian Stelter closed with: "David, thank you for the spice."

But the standing ovation on this evening was reserved for Pat Quinn, ALS patient and co-founder of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Quinn, who was introduced by Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, accepted the Special Achievement Award and proved once again that five words can be enough to bring the house down when he said: "Every August until a cure."

Empire is honored to be the production partner for The Webby Awards for more than a decade running, and enjoys producing other award ceremonies including the Fragrance Foundation Awards and The Architizer A+ Awards.

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