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Fillion, Basu net Twitter awards

Montreal writer and editor Arjun Basu and Edmonton-born actor Nathan Fillion are among the latest winners of the Shorty Awards, a fledgling prize celebrating top users of Twitter.
CBC Arts ·

Montreal writer and editor Arjun Basu and Edmonton-born actor Nathan Fillion are among the latest winners of the Shorty Awards, a fledgling prize celebrating top users of Twitter.

Organizers celebrated the winners of the 2nd annual Shorty Awards at a New York gala hosted by CNN anchor Rick Sanchez on Wednesday night. 

A selection of Arjun Basu's "Twister" stories:

  • "There was a pink tulip in a vase on the kitchen counter and she fell in love with him again. She kissed him hard. I didn't send it, he said."
  • "He walks into traffic while typing into his phone and gets hit by a city bus. That's not very social, a bystander says. Even the cops laugh."
  • "They drove home in the darkness. In quiet. There was nothing left to say. I'm sorry, he said. Again. That really was a smelly fart, she said."

Basu, the editorial director for custom publishing house Spafax, published his debut short story collection in Squishy in 2008. On Twitter, however, he has built a reputation for even shorter tales he calls Twisters: concise, 140-character stories; each self-contained and often of a humorous bent.

Basu placed first in the literature category, triumphing over award-winning sci-fi and fantasy writer Neil Gaiman.

It was one of 26 official categories established by the prize organizers, with the Twitter community also creating more than 2,000 additional ones.

Fillion, best known for his turns in Joss Whedon's series Firefly and its spin-off film Serenity, is currently the star of popular TV comedy-drama Castle. An avid Twitter user, Fillion triumphed in the celebrity category against finalists such as British comedian, filmmaker and writer Stephen Fry and Brazilian singers Ivete Sangalo and Claudia Leitte.

Other Shorty Awards by category went to:

  • Sports — sports columnist and author Bill Simmons.
  • Politics — political magazine The Nation.
  • Journalist — a tie between MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and Brazilian journalist William Bonner.
  • News — Washington-based NPR call-in program The Diane Rehm Show.
  • Apps — TweetDeck.
  • Art — online digital art community deviantART.
  • Entertainment — racy HBO vampire series True Blood.
  • Government — Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker.

Organizers also presented a special "humanitarian" award to Haitian radio and TV host Carel Pedre, who used Twitter to share news from his country after the devastating earthquake in January.

Winners are selected by public vote on Twitter as well as by members of a selected jury of Twitter users, who this year included actress Alyssa Milano, New York Times technology columnist David Pogue, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark.

Created by Sawhorse Media, the Shorty Awards are also supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and other sponsors.

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