2026 Webby Awards: Sean Evans, Josh Johnson, Nick DiGiovanni Among Top Winners

The 2026 Webby Awards, which celebrate excellence on the internet, announced its winners on Tuesday, recognizing major creators like Sean Evans of Hot Ones, Josh Johnson of The Daily Show, and celebrity chef Nick DiGiovanni.

The awards organization, known for honoring digital innovation, unveiled its first-ever Creator category last year to reflect the evolving cultural landscape. This year, the 30th Annual Webby Awards expanded its honors, introducing new categories for creator businesses, podcasts, and social media.

The newly added Creator Business category recognized businesses centered around creators. Keith Lee, a food reviewer with 17.4 million TikTok followers, won the Creator/Influencer Partnership or Collaboration category for his collaboration with Toast on It’s the Little Things. InStyle’s viral The Intern Series won the Multi-Creator Campaign category, while Prof G Media won for Newsletter or Written Series with the No Mercy / No Malice newsletter.

In the general creator awards, Josh Johnson took home the comedy category and will also host the Webbys ceremony next month. Other winners included:

• Alex Warren (21 million TikTok followers) for Art, Culture and Music;
• Nick DiGiovanni (37 million YouTube subscribers) for Food and Drink;
• Brian Tyler Cohen (5.2 million YouTube subscribers) for News and Politics;
• Colin and Samir (1.6 million YouTube subscribers) for Best Duo or Group.

Jesse Feister, executive director for the Webby Group, emphasized the organization’s role in recognizing emerging digital trends.

“There’s always a new format coming to the internet that is enabling a new class of people to do something new that isn’t initially taken seriously. The Webbys have always sat right at the beginning of that phase of every cycle and said, ‘Hey, we recognize that there’s something legitimately creative happening here that does matter to the world and is going to set the standard for whatever the next version of the internet is. We need to be recognizing that and elevating the people that are doing that really well.’”

The Webbys have increasingly focused on creators over the past five years, with this year marking their 30th anniversary.

“We’re oftentimes one of the first awards that are bestowed upon these people who go on to be much more influential. Of course, we have people winning awards who are really famous and established, too. But I like being first.”

The awards process involves extensive collaboration with the Webby team and its community. After “hundreds” of meetings, categories are finalized each September, followed by the selection of winners who represent the best of the digital era.