Best in Activism in Social Media - Shorty Awards

13th Annual Shorty Awards Categories

The Shorty Awards honor the talented agencies, brands, and industry leaders behind the best and most innovative work on social media and digital channels, campaigns, websites and applications.

From the 10th Annual Shorty Awards Best in Activism

There are so many important causes to fight for in the world right now. And with so many things happening in the world every day, social media makes it easier to follow the progress made on a daily basis. Through writing, teaching, photography, speaking and many other forms, these activists share their work, as well as their colleagues to help fight the good fight.

If you’re a brand looking for recognition for your use of social media in this space, enter the Best Social Good Campaign Shorty Award.

Winner

Due to police brutality, Eric Garner met an early death in 2014 at the hands of the NYPD, despite his pleas for help. Immediately following the injustice, his daughter Erica became active in the fight for police reform, particularly when exerting force during arrests. Tragically, Erica passed away in December 2017 due to brain damage suffered afte…

Finalists

America Ferrera

An Emmy and Golden Globe winner, America Ferrera has become one of the most outspoken actresses in Hollywood, especially when it comes to women’s rights and equality. Serving as the opening speaker at the Women’s March on Washington in January 2017, America also encourages her 615K+ Instagram followers to “Harness your energy to power change.” Ame…

Deray McKesson has seemingly been everywhere lately. Over the course of 2017, The Washington Post and The New York Times wrote various articles on him, he appeared on TV shows like Chelsea and The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, and he even launched Pod Save The People, which debuted at #4 on the iTunes podcast charts. One of the leaders of the Bl…

Kailash Satyarthi

Recognizing that social media is the best way to spread your message to people as quickly as possible, Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi is very active on Twitter. With over 2M followers on the platform, he tweets about policies and news stories relating to child abductions, abuse, and trafficking. A Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2…

Initially without a hashtag, the Me Too movement was created in 2006 by Tarana Burke, who put the powerful words on a sign and held it up (the old fashioned version of tweeting) to raise awareness about sexual assault. In the fallout of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the world saw Tarana’s words all over social media, as women bravely posted their …

Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez

Every year, the environmental activist Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez outdoes himself. He’s had major articles written about him since age 14, spoken at the UN three times by 15, and now, at 17, released his first book. We Rise discusses effective activism and how people can go about making real change. Born in Colorado, Xiuhtezcatl is of Aztec herita…

Nominees

Actress Amber Tamblyn has enjoyed an illustrious acting career, appearing in some of the biggest shows on television, like House, Joan of Arcadia, and of course General Hospital. But 2017 saw Amber step into the role of activist, particularly in the fallout from the Harvey Weinstein scandal, boldly coming forward to open up about her experiences of sexual h…

Cameron Russell

Cameron Russell has always been interested in exposing truths in the world around her, especially in the fashion industry where she works. For years, the Columbia University graduate used social media platforms to tackle issues like racial and gender inequality and the environment, but she made headlines in 2017 after launching #MyJobShouldNotIncludeAbuse o…

Don’t let his Twitter handle fool you, @fakedansavage is most definitely the real Dan Savage. And his last name is quite fitting, as Dan has racked up 325K+ Twitter followers by being a brash, bold, and unfiltered defender of the LGBTQ+ community. Resurrecting ITMFA.org (and adding the #ITMFA hashtag) which he originally founded to support organizations sta…

There are plenty of topics people shy away from, but Eileen Kelly prefers to steer right into the eye of the storm. At just 21 years of age, Eileen has played an important role in opening up discussions about sex and other topics “we’re told not to talk about, but desperately need to know.” Founder of the blog The Killer And A Sweet Thang, the Seattle nativ…

A hall-of-famer when it comes to fighting climate change, Laurie David stepped out of retirement in 2017 to fight the good fight. She re-teamed with Al Gore to produce An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, a follow-up documentary that shows the world what has changed (for the worse) since An Inconvenient Truth was released a decade prior. Laurie also brin…

About the Shorty Awards

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media.

Millions of people participate in The Shortys to recognize individuals and organizations producing great content on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, TikTok, Snapchat, and the rest of the social web.

winners will be announced in may. follow us to be notified!