Awards Strategy

After a stint downtown, the planning team behind the Clio Awards moved the ceremony to the American Museum of Natural History last year. The Upper West Side institution will be the site of this year's show and after-party, and include some visual and strategic changes onstage as well as at the post-presentation reception.

The fourth iteration of Sawhorse Media's Shorty Awards filled the TimesCenter with more than 650 attendees on Monday. The event, which honored the best content creators on social media platforms like YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, Foursquare, and Quora, drew a mix of guests, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Fire Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano, Occupy Wall Street activists, and Miss Teen U.S.A. Danielle Doty.

At the registration tables, guests picked up their tickets for the show, lapel pins that designated their level of access, and the night's program. As a fun addition, the organizers provided business-card-size guides for posting messages on Twitter.

Attendees were encouraged to use their mobile devices at the event, snapping shots of celebrities like Tiffani Thiessen on the red carpet and tweeting comments during the live show.

Columbia University's Sree Sreenivasan was part of the judging panel for the Shorty Awards, known as the Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences. At the event, the professor interviewed guests, nominees, and winners for the event's YouTube channel.

To keep the mood upbeat and create what Sawhorse Media C.E.O. Greg Galant refers to as a "fun party," a DJ on stage in the theater played tunes like Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," "Girls & Boys" by Blur, and Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up."

Shortly before the ceremony began, organizers instructed the audience to silence their cellphones, but turn on the Twitter application.

At a glance, the attendees in the theater might have appeared unengaged, but many were, in fact, tweeting about the awards. An on-site task force promoted comments made via Twitter to a live feed that was displayed on screens at the event.

Samantha Bee and Jason Jones of The Daily Show served as the night's hosts. Other presenters included White Collar actress Tiffani Thiessen, who presented the Shorty for finance, Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Bettes, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley, and Improv Everywhere founder Charlie Todd.

The live event on Monday night handed out more than 30 awards; the winners were announced, but not brought to the stage. The list included KungFu Panda 2 for best branded YouTube channel, SpongeBob Square Pants for best overall brand presence on Facebook, and MTV's V.M.A. Twitter tracker for best use of social media in a mobile campaign.

Priscilla Grim (pictured, left), creator and co-editor of We Are the 99 Percent, won the award for best microblog of the year on Tumblr.

After attending a New York Knicks game earlier in the evening, Mayor Bloomberg stopped by the TimesCenter to pick up his award for Foursquare Mayor of the Year.

Viral video band the Gregory Brothers performed a musical parody of the year's events, complete with photos displayed on the main screen, during the show.