Bieber, Arcade Fire vie for Webby Awards

Justin Bieber's "takeover" of funnyordie.com, a groundbreaking web video featuring Arcade Fire's We Used to Wait and the National Film Board's Highrise/Out My Window have nabbed nominations for the Webby Awards.

Canadians will vie for several of the prominent annualonline honours.

Stratford, Ont.-born pop star Bieber's domination of funnyordie.com on April Fool's Day in 2010 is just one of many Webby nominations for the popular comedy video site. The site's bizarre and hilarious ongoing series Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis is also nominated in several categories.

The stylish, interactive The Wilderness Downtown also racked up multiple nominations. The project blends Montreal band Arcade Fire's song We Used to Wait withGoogle's Street View technology to offer a stirring video that includes footage of each viewer's childhood home. The experimental project will vie in multiple categories, including music, use of video or moving image and net art.

Several National Film Board of Canada productions have made the cut, including therecent International Digital Emmy Award-winnerHighrise/Out My Window (category: use of photography); The Test Tube with David Suzuki (category: use of interactive video) and GDP: The human side of the Canadian economic crisis (category: documentary series).

Other Canadian nominees include:

• CBCNews.ca'sweb video chronicle Canadians in Haiti: Stories of Loss and Remembrance (category: news and politics series).
• A Roots project documenting the clothing retailer's collaboration with novelist Douglas Coupland (category: art).
• Vancouver social media app firm HootSuite (category: social media).
• A website highlighting downtown St. John's, created by John Atkins & Co. (category: associations).
• The Toronto-produced web series Out With Dad (category: drama).

Some of 2010's top viral videos, biggest internet sensations and most popular online apps are also Webby contenders, including The Bed Intruder Song, the Old Spice Guy, Groupon, Twitter and Angry Birds. Media nominees include The New York Times, CNN, NPR, The Guardian and the Huffington Post.

"If you want to check the pulse of popular culture, look no further than this year's Webby Awards nominees," David-Michel Davies, theexecutive director of the awards, said in a statement.

"Over the past year, the nominees have dominated conversation, entertained us, changed how we work and play, and fueled our imaginations."

Each category boasts two winners: one determined by a judging panel selected by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and another decided by the public. Voting on the latter runs until April 28.

Winners will be announced May 3. They will be honoured at a star-studded New York gala and online broadcast on June 13. There as per tradition recipients will be permitted to deliver an acceptance speech lasting just five words.