Winners of the 29th Annual Webby Awards

Every industry has an annual awards ceremony to honor its top professionals. The film industry has the Oscars, the music industry has the Grammys, and the internet has the Webby Awards. These top honors are given out to professionals who create content for the web in various ways—web design, advertising, video creation, and more.

There are eight categories and hundreds of subcategories voted on each year! What struck me as I looked at this year’s winners is how certain trends kept showing up, like:

The list of winners is too long to share in this post, so what you will find below is a preview of the digital pros who won in the following areas: 

The Webby Awards was established way back in 1996 when the internet was just a baby. Today, The Webbys is run by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS). While the IADAS selects the nominees for each year’s awards, they’re not the only ones who get a say in who wins. 

There are two honors for each category. The Webby Award is chosen by members of the IADAS. On the other hand, the Webby People’s Voice Award is voted on by millions of people worldwide. So, you’ll find a mix of award winners below—let’s dive in! 

Websites and mobile websites are judged on the following criteria: 

Here are some of this year’s winners in the Websites and Mobile Sites category:

AW Portfolio is the portfolio website for Antoine Wodniack and Webby Winner for Best Home Page. Its standout features include an ever-changing three-dimensional design, interactivity, and scroll-triggered animations. If you’re trying to impress employers with your creative skills, this is the way to do it!

Ricola is the People’s Voice Winner for Best Navigation/Structure. At first glance, the navigation doesn’t appear out of the ordinary. However, the click-triggered mega menu design really shines, with a mix of graphics, text, and links that make it easy for visitors to find what they need.

The landing page for Pinterest Predicts 2025 is the Webby Winner for Best Trend, Insights or Impact Report. This trends prediction page is stunning and engaging — and a great representation of what makes the Pinterest platform so special to users.

The Dropbox Brand website is a two-time winner this year. It’s the Webby Winner for Best User Experience and Best Responsive/Adaptive Design for Mobile. This interactive site doesn’t just contain Dropbox branding guidelines. It takes what could have been a basic digital style guide and brings it to life so people can see the brand’s visual identity in action.

Good Things Vending is the People’s Voice Winner for Best Mobile Visual Design – Aesthetic (Mobile Features). This website is so much fun to look at and interact with, and is a great way to promote a unique vending machine concept like theirs. 

Kraft Heinz is the People’s Voice Winner for Best Responsive/Adaptive Design for Mobile (Mobile Features). I urge you to visit the website on your desktop or laptop first. Then, head over to mobile to see what a great job the design team did translating the colorful, interactive interface for a smaller screen.

Apps and software are judged on criteria like: 

Here are some of this year’s winners in this category:

Ebb by Headspace is an empathetic AI companion developed for the mindfulness app. It is a conversational chatbot that lends an ear when people need it most and provides personalized recommendations. That’s why it’s this year’s People’s Voice Winner for Best Use of AI & Machine Learning.

Apple Fitness+ is the People’s Voice Winner for Health, Wellness & Fitness as well as the Webby Winner for Best User Experience. There are many fitness apps out there, but you can see how the attention-to-detail, workout enhancing features, and synchronization with wearable devices makes this app a winner.

Grill’d is the People’s Voice Winner for Best User Interface. If you look at the design team’s motivation for building the app, you’ll see that usability was a top priority. While they wanted to give users a way to make more positive, eco-conscious choices, it could not come at the cost of an intuitive experience. And it didn’t.

Storyrabbit is the Webby Winner for Experimental & Innovation applications. It’s an interesting and unique concept, although at first glance it might appear to be an enhanced version of Google Maps. With this app, users explore local “rabbit holes”. It’s kind of like taking a guided tour with a talented storyteller from within your phone. 

AI, immersive experiences, and games are judged on criteria like: 

Here are some of this year’s winners in this category:

Infinite Wonderland is the Webby Winner for Best Art Direction. This experimental technology allows users to generate visuals as they read through Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. They select the artist style they prefer, then the AI generates imagery to go with the sentences they select.

ShiffBot is the Webby Winner for Best User Experience. It is an AI chatbot and a Google Chrome extension. Using Dan Shiffman’s teaching as its basis, this conversational AI helps users learn how to code without giving them the answers to their questions.  

Twister Air is the virtualized version of the beloved Twister game. Powered by AI, this AR-based mobile game is easier to transport and play than ever. It’s no surprise that both the IADAS and the public have chosen it as the winner for Best Use of Augmented Reality.

Black Myth: Wukong is a big winner this year. It’s the Webby Winner for Technical Achievement and Best Game Design. It’s also the People’s Voice Winner for Best Art Direction. Even if you’re not a gamer, you’ll be blown away by the 3D graphics on the promotional website and within the game.

Video and film projects are judged on criteria like: 

Here are some of this year’s winners in this category:

Robbie Reddy’s Lego-ized rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” is the People’s Voice Winner for the Best Use of AI. Watch the 30-second video and you’ll quickly see why people were impressed. Unlike AI-generated videos of real people we’re used to seeing, this one turns a lego into a moonwalking and dancing MJ.

47 is the Webby Winner for Animation (Branded) and the Webby Winner for Technical Achievement. This stop-motion film is about a man with Down syndrome who goes on a personal journey until he gets his first job at age 47. Everything from the hand-crafted work to the color palette (not to mention the storyline) is stunning.

DeLeón Bold Spirits, Rise is the Webby Winner for Best Art Direction. In under a minute, this video ad for DeLeón Tequila takes us through an audiovisual masterpiece with rich color palettes, choreographed dancing, and a lot of flavor. 

Batman: Arkham Shadow is the People’s Voice Winner for Best Editing. The creators of this video had a unique challenge: How to promote a VR Batman game on a flat screen. This high-impact, cinematic-level video scored by The Prodigy does a fantastic job of it.

The bar has been set high by this year’s Webby winners! Whether they were selected by the industry or by the public, you can see how each is a master of their craft. 

What’s so great about an awards show like this one is that it rewards everyone, from the little guys to big, famous brands. What’s more, it allows the public to pick a champ of their own.

The Webby Awards will be broadcast in May. The hosted show will feature winners in categories other than those we’ve explored above, such as social media, podcasts, and creators. 

In the meantime, you’ll find the full list of winners here. This is a great resource to explore if you’re looking for inspiration or motivation for your next project or are simply curious about where we’re headed on the web. Plus, check out our Webby Awards collection on Envato, inspired by the best of the Internet.