The Webby Awards, established in 1996, honours excellence on the internet. It is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) with a judging panel of more than 3000 members. For some idea of the global scale the two top awards this year, Webby Lifetime Achievement and Webby Entrepreneur of the Year, were awarded to computer scientist Dr Fei-Fei Li and rapper Snoop Dogg respectively. So for a couple of Aussies to walk away with wins is a rather big deal.

Toni and Ryan (Toni Lodge and Ryan Jon Dunn pictured above) were up for Best Comedy Podcast Episode as well as in the People’s Voice Category which is open to the voting public. Each year, The Webby People’s Voice Awards gets literally millions of votes from all over the world and this year Toni and Ryan fans (or TARPers) made their voices heard with the duo winning in that very competitive category.

There was also a win for WA community radio station RTR FM 92.1 where they tied with Lady Gaga for Best Music Website. Yes you read that right!!

RTR FM General Manager Simon Miraudo said of the win on LinkedIn:

“Extremely proud of the Start Digital team who worked so hard to develop a new online home for RTRFM and RTR2, and have deservedly brought home the gold… alongside Stefani Germanotta (and over the other incredible nominees like Billie Eilish, Apple Music and Soundcloud).

Huge thanks to everyone who voted for us! We didn’t claim the People’s Choice Prize (turns out Lady Gaga has quite a few more fans around the world) but to be named top of our field by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences jury is absolutely phenomenal!”

It is indeed. Congratulations to both.

Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo. Email: [email protected]