Free Hugs award

A Sydney man on a goodwill mission to hug strangers has picked up an inaugural YouTube Video Award.

Juan Mann's Free Hugs, in which he sets out to brighten strangers' lives on Sydney's streets by hugging them, has nabbed the prize for most inspirational video.

The clip is the 13th-most watched YouTube video of all time. It has been watched more than 12 million times after it was uploaded six months ago.

Mr Mann's video is among the winners of seven YouTube awards, the nominees for which the site put forward a week ago. Users could rank the 10 nominees for each award in order of their preference.

Chicago band OK Go has won the award for most creative video with the clip for its song Here it Goes Again, in which the group's four members dance over eight moving treadmills.

More than 13 million people have watched the video, which has propelled the band to international fame.

Another American creation, Ask a Ninja, has picked up the best series award.

The series, created by Los Angeles comedians Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, features a black-clad ninja answering emails in unique ninja lingo with his signature sign-off, "I look forward to killing you soon".

College students Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox, better known as Smosh, have won for best comedy video.

Nearly 70,000 fans watch their every move, whether it is a music video or comedy sketch, and theirs is the second-most subscribed channel on YouTube.

Dony Permedi's animated short film, Kiwi, has been named most adorable video.

The film, which began as a master's thesis in animation, is about a flightless kiwi bird who embarks on a fatal mission to achieve his dream of flying.

Best music has gone to Los Angeles-based Terranaomi, who went from struggling singer-songwriter to being signed to Island Records due to exposure on YouTube.

The Winekone has won best commentary. The Canadian offers a random, rambling monologue on a range of topics.
'Changed the landscape'

YouTube, which has dominated the user-generated online video market since it was founded in February last year, says the winners of its 2007 Video Awards have helped foster the online video phenomenon.

"They saw an opportunity for worldwide visibility and through their success have changed the landscape of how a star is defined," spokesman Jamie Byrne said.

"As the masses learned about online video, many of the creators of these videos established themselves as personalities, going from the seemingly unknown to international celebrity overnight."

Mr Byrne says the YouTube pioneers have laid the foundation for a new medium that is influencing how people are entertained and informed, with a new generation of viewers as likely to spend their time in front of computers as television screens.

YouTube was bought by Google Inc for $2.04 billion last year.

The winning videos can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/ytawards.