title: 1st Shorty Awards
text: # 1st Shorty Awards
  
  The first Shorty Awards ceremony was held on February 11, 2009, at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, New York. Approximately 300 people attended the event. The event was hosted by CNN anchor Rick Sanchez and featured appearances by prominent Twitter users MC Hammer and Gary Vaynerchuk and a video appearance by Shaquille O'Neal. The awards, in 26 categories, were voted on by Twitter users.
  
  ## History
  
  The Shorty Awards were created in 2008 by tech entrepreneurs Greg Galant, Adam Varga, and Lee Semel of Sawhorse Media. They invited Twitter account holders to nominate the best Twitter users in general categories such as humor, news, food, and design. Winners were chosen by more than 30,000 Twitter users during the voting period. The founders of Twitter first heard about the awards after the contest had gotten underway and expressed support for it.
  
  ## Winners
  
  The first annual winners by category:
  
  | Category | Winner |
  | - | - |
  | Best in Advertising | Peggy Olson, @PeggyOlson |
  | Best in Apps | brightkit, @brightkit |
  | Best Brand | Action Wipes, @MarthaVan |
  | Best in Business | Paw Luxury, @PawLuxury |
  | Best in Design | Yiying Lu, @yiyinglu |
  | Best in Education | RubyLearning, @RubyLearning |
  | Best in Entertainment | Flashlight Worthy Books, @FLWBooks |
  | Best in Finance | StockTwits, @StockTwits |
  | Best in Food | Foodimentary, @foodimentary |
  | Best in Green | green jaden @greenjaden on twitter |
  | Best in Health | Debra Wendler, @ADHDParenting |
  | Best in Humor | Charles Trippy, @charlestrippy |
  | Best in Music | Hunter Burgan, @tranquilmammoth |
  | Best in News | BNO News, @BreakingNewsOn |
  | Best in Nonprofits | Athletes for a Cure, @athletes4acure |
  | Best Personal | Arleen Boyd, @AlohaArleen |
  | Best in Photography | Kyle Reese, @Twipphoto |
  | Best in Politics | Justin Hart, @justin_hart |
  | Best in Science | NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, @MarsPhoenix |
  | Best in Social Media | Dan Zarrella, @danzarrella |
  | Best in Sports | Jackie, @girlwithnoname |
  | Best in Startups | Hanniversary, @hanniversary |
  | Best in Tech | Twitter Tips, @Twitter_Tips |
  | Best in Travel | Cruise Source, @cruisesource |
  | Best in Video Games | Justin McElroy, @justinmcelroy |
  | Best in Weird | Martin Sargent, @martinsargent |
  