The 2019 Webby Award Winning Voice Applications
Image Credit: The Webby Awards
Last month Voicebot reported on the 2019 Webby Award’s inclusion of ten new categories just for voice assistant applications. Now, we have winners to dive into. The categories were split into general voice categories and voice features. The winners were:
- Best User Experience: BBC Kids (U.K. Alexa Skill) [Judges award], Are You Feeling Lucky by Google (U.S. Google Action) [People’s Voice award]
- Best Writing: Mr. Robot: The Daily Five/Nine (U.S. Alexa Skill)
- Business & Finance: Harvard Business Review Management Tip (U.S. Alexa Skill)
- Education & Reference: Parents vs. Kids (U.K. Alexa Skill), labworks.io’s True or False (U.S. Alexa Skill & Action on Google)
- Food & Drink: BBC Good Food (U.K. Alexa Skill & Action on Google) [Judges’ Award], Tasty by Google (Action on Google) [People’s Voice award]
- Games & Entertainment: Mr. Robot: The Daily Five/Nine, Gorillaz – #FreeMurdoc Chatbot (U.S. Alexa Skill & Action on Google)
- Health, Fitness & Lifestyle: Headspace for Alexa (U.S. & U.K.) in collaboration with RAIN Agency
- News: Google Creative Lab’s Tell Me Something Good (Action on Google)
- Productivity: Alexa Lifeline by VML (U.S. Alexa Skill) [Judges’ award], Google Assistant Shopping [People’s Voice award]
- Technical Achievement: Deloitte Digital’s Lucy (AUS)[Judges’ award], Google Interpreter Mode for the Google Assistant [People’s Voice award]
The Webby Awards hands out two awards in each category: the winner as chosen by a panel of judges, and the ‘People’s Voice’ winner as voted online by the general public. In total, there were seven Alexa skills that won by the judges choice, and three Alexa skills that won People’s Voice awards. In addition, 27 Alexa skills were named as honorees in one or more of the Webby voice categories. Amazon posted a blog post detailing the winning skills and honorable mentions.
Voice Applications Are Here to Stay
The inclusion of voice assistant applications in the Webby Awards is indicative of a growing shift in the adoption of voice assistants. The data confirms this assertion as well: the U.S. adult smart speaker installed base saw a growth of 39.8% from 2018 to 2019, according to research from the Voicebot Smart Speaker Consumer Adoption Report 2019. Additionally, the breadth of categories included confirms the incredibly wide range of use cases voice assistants have. Assistants can be reached on a multitude of platforms, from smart speakers, smartphones, vehicles, computers, televisions, and an incredible number of smart home devices.
