The 'Urlies' are in: Vote for 2010's 'Best of the Web'

Dec. 9, 2010, 1:19 PM EST

By Helen A.S. Popkin

Antoine Dodson went from the projects to the Billboard charts this year, after going on the local news to call out the man who attempted to rape his sister.Urlesque

Antoine Dodson (of "Bed Intruder" fame) battles Double Rainbow, Sad Keanu Reeves, Vuvuzelas and "Magnets, How Do They Work?"/Insane Clown Posse "Miracles" Music Video for 2010 "Meme of the Year" in Urlesque.com's annual best of the Web awards (The Urlies).

For the third year in a row, the meme aggregator-and-explainer site offers 10 categories in which both the People's Choice and Editor's Choice winners will take the coveted golden computer. You can vote now through Dec. 15, midnight.

Dodson's original news clip also received a nomination for "Video of the Year," but the young man who bravely battled his sister's attacker is conspicuously absent from the "Hero of the Year" category. With choices such as "Jenny the Whiteboard Girl," which was a hoax, former Jet Blue flight attendant Steven Slater and of course Old Spice Guy, this category is more tongue-in-cheek than heartfelt.

The hit song created from Dodson's newsclip by the Gregory Brothers of Auto-Tune the News fame isn't nominated either. The Gregory Brothers do receive an arguably stale shout-out in "Breakout of the Year." There they face stiff competition from NMA News, the Taiwanese computer animation outfit that brought us many important "news" vidoes this year, including Steve Jobs: Airport Ninja and what it might look like if Justin Bieber had syphillis.

Speaking of Justin Bieber, this year the spawn of YouTube gets his own category, "Justin Bieber Internet Thing." While everyone enjoyed "4Chan Tries to Send Justin Bieber to North Korea," it's hard to think of a more deserving winner than "Shaved Bieber Browser Add-On," because Greg Leuch, the guy who built it totally got death threats from adolescent girls.

The Tumblr influence on the Internet is illustrated through another new category, "Best New Single Topic Blog," featuring such favorites as "Hungover Owls" and "Faces of the Last Season of Oprah."

"Biggest Facebook Trend" replaces last year's "Biggest Twitter Trend," and comes with a mixed bag of nominees, from "Betty White to Host Saturday Night Live Campaign" and "Breast Cancer Awareness Status Campaign" — when the ladies of Facebook were supposed to confuse the dudes by putting the color of their bras as their status updates to make people aware that breast cancer exists or something equally useful to society.

Somehow, using your favorite childhood cartoon character as your profile picture didn't make the vote — no doubt because of the controversy surrounding that particular Facebook campaign. But thanks to another new addition to the Urlies — write-in votes — you have the option of voting for anything you feel is missing and deserving in any of the 10 categories.

Here is the complete list of nominees. If you need a little Internet culture refresh before you vote, background information on each nominee is offered on Urlesque's voting pages. Again, the vote closes Wednesday, Dec. 15 at midnight, with winners announced soon after.

Meme of the Year

Antoine Dodson/Bed Intruder
Double Rainbow
"Magnets, How Do They Work?" / Insane Clown Posse 'Miracles' Music Video
Sad Keanu
Vuvuzelas

Video of the Year

Antoine Dodson (Original News Clip)
Double Rainbow Original Video ("Yosemitebear Mountain Giant Double Rainbow 1-8-10")
Greyson Chance Singing 'Paparazzi'
Merton's Chatroulette Piano Improv ("Chat Roulette Funny Piano Improv #1"
Trololo (Я очень рад, ведь я, наконец, возвращаюсь домой)

Biggest Facebook Trend of the Year