RT #1917LIVE PROJECT IN THE FINALS OF THE ‘INTERNET OSCARS’ – THE WEBBY AWARDS
MOSCOW, APRIL 4, 2018— RT’s historical social media reenactment #1917LIVE has been selected for the finals in the Advertising, Media & PR category of the Webby Awards, a prestigious international award honoring excellence on the internet.
RT’s international #1917LIVE Twitter project, a large-scale historical reenactment of the Russian Revolution, has been nominated for a Webby Award. Users can also vote for RT in the People's Voice Award category on the Webby site.
Kirill Karnovich-Valua, the author of the idea, said: “Being nominated for a Webby is a new level of recognition for the #1917LIVE project. With this project, we wanted to create an innovative format that would inspire people to learn history through an original approach. I’d like to congratulate our team. And we want to thank everyone who subscribed to our project’s accounts, re-tweeted our tweets and followed the events of 1917 unfolding in Twitter, all over again.”
In 2016, RT won the Webby’s People’s Voice Award in the category Social: News & Information.
In late 2016, RT launched one of the biggest-ever historical reenactments on Twitter. Dozens of Twitter accounts set up as key historical characters of the time period, from the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, and revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin to common workers and soldiers, tweeted events from 100 years ago in real-time. Historians from the US and UK took part in the project, as well as Paulo Coelho, world-renowned Brazilian author of ‘The Alchemist,’ ‘Veronika Decides to Die,’ and ‘The Zahir.’ A total of 100 special Twitter accounts were brought together under a fictional media outlet called ‘The Russian Telegraph,’ later re-named ‘The Revolutionary Times’ after the ‘revolution’ took place. Over 250,000 users were following the project by the time it came to an end in December 2017.
#1917LIVE has won a number of international awards. In November 2017, #1917LIVE took home the Best in Education award at the Shorty Social Good Awards, as well as first place for Best Overall Twitter Presence. #1917LIVE also made it to the finals of The Drum Social Buzz Awards in the category Most Innovative Use of Social Media, and won two bronze Epica Awards in the categories Media and Online Social Networks.
RT #1917LIVE also achieved recognition at the Russian Media Brand Awards, took home silver at Russia’s Red Apple Awards for excellence in advertising, and won the Adweek ARC Awards honoring the most innovative advertising and media projects. At the Shorty Awards, #1917LIVE took home gold in the categories Best Use of Hashtag and Best Use of Video on Twitter, as well as silver in the category Best Use of Storytelling.
The Webby Awards, “the internet’s highest honor,” according to The New York Times, annually honor the world’s best digital projects: websites, videos, mobile apps and social media campaigns. The jury includes more than 1,000 professionals of the web and media markets.
