SAN BRUNO, CA -- March 16, 2007 -- YouTube, the leader in online video, today announced the first-ever YouTube Video Awards (www.youtube.com/YTAwards), established to recognize the creative achievements of the YouTube community.

The 2007 YouTube Video Awards commemorate the best original user created videos of 2006 and the artists who made them in the categories of: Most Creative – Innovative And Cutting Edge Video, Most Inspirational – Things That Make You Think Or Feel, Best Series – The Best In Serial Entertainment, Best Comedy – They Had Us In Stitches, Musician Of The Year – Celebrating YouTube’s Home-Grown Musical Talent, Best Commentary – The Bloggers Who Caught Our Attention, Most Adorable Video Ever – So Cute It Hurts.

YouTube Video Awards nominees, drawn from the site’s most popular original videos, are centralized in a gallery of separate lists, one for each award category. YouTube community members can browse each list and place the nominees in a ranked order from their favorite to least favorite. The voting period begins on Monday, March 19 and ends on Friday, March 23. YouTube Video Awards award winners will be revealed on YouTube on Monday, March 25. Winners from each category will be prominently featured and will receive a trophy to honor their achievement.

“Our community was at the forefront of the most creative and popular user-generated content in 2006,” said Mia Quagliarello, director of programming for YouTube. “On a daily basis, new videos were created, uploaded, discovered and popularized through the site. We want to honor and celebrate the individuals who helped foster the community through their creativity. We hope that this recognition will continue to inspire users to create content that entertains and informs.”

Community events like the video awards and last year’s YouTube Underground, have given YouTube creators an opportunity to be recognized beyond the daily honors, view counts and star ratings that videos on the site garner.

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