Paris, Puppies, Prop 8 Vie for Webby Awards

Hilton's McCain-answering diss, the star-studded political musical and a viral puppy cam top this year's Internet nominees

By Gina Serpe Apr 14, 2009 4:15 PMTags

Finally, Paris Hilton's Internet work is getting the recognition it deserves.

Come next month, the erstwhile viral sensation may need to move aside a few of her Razzies and make room for a Webby Award, the so-called highest honor of the online world.

Hilton's Funny or Die-aided response to John McCain's campaign-backfiring diss has been nominated for a Webby in the category of Comedy: Individual Short or Episode.

Vying for the award, and the chance to deliver one of the ceremony's infamous five-word acceptance speeches, alongside Hilton is the star-studded Prop 8: The Musical, also coming to the online world courtesy of FunnyOrDie.com, which also scored a Writing nod.

Meanwhile, queen of the viral vid Sarah Silverman scored a nomination for News & Politics: Individual Episode, for her latest offering, "The Great Schlep," a political video intended to inspire Jewish Americans to use any means necessary to get their Florida-dwelling grandparents to vote for then-candidate Barack Obama.

A webisode of the WB.com's Childrens' Hospital, starring Rob Corddry and Megan Mullally, is also up for the nod, while Corddry himself was singled out for Individual Performance.

The show's entire web run is nominated in the Long Form or Series category. It goes up against The Office's Oscar-starring webisode series The Outburst.

Edward Norton's environmentally-friendly "Bag the Bag," a video made alongside National Geographic, is nominated for Public Service and Activism—but it's another pet project, literally, that is already a fan favorite.

The Shiba Inu Live Puppy Cam, which entranced office drones nationwide with the utterly mundane goings-on of newborn pups, is up for Viral video. It goes head-to-head with the dance remix of Bill O'Reilly's infamous flip-out.

As it is, O'Reilly proved an unwilling hit this year: "Bill O'Reilly's Producer—The Unseen Footage!" is up for Video Remixes/Mashups, and goes against It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's mashup for the honor. Lil' O'Reilly, meanwhile, is up for Individual Performance.

SNL's Seth Meyers will host the May 5 ceremony.

A complete list of nominees (of which E! Online, to toot our own horn, is one) can be found at webbyawards.com.