MOSCOW, APRIL 20, 2017 – RT360, RT’s app dedicated to panoramic content, won Best Photo and Video App at the 2017 Shorty Awards—one of the premier awards honoring excellence in social media. RT also took home the Audience Honor—given to the recipient of the most online votes—in four categories.
“To win several awards at once represents an outstanding debut on the scene of the Shorty Awards—one of the largest and most prestigious competitions in the social media sphere. We don’t plan on stopping here and hope this will be the first of many victories to come,” says RT’s Head of Online Projects Kirill Karnovich-Valua.
RT360, RT’s special app devoted to delivering 360 content (available at Google Play, App Store, and Oculus Store) was awarded the Shorty Award for Best Photo and Video App. In 2015, RT was among the first news broadcasters to begin regularly producing video content in the 360-degree format.
In four categories—including Best Photo and Video App—RT took home the Audience Honor. Voters chose RT’s special Space 360 project, a collaboration between RT, the Roscosmos State Corporation and Energia Rocket and Space Corporation as the Best Use of Virtual Reality over competitors such as the USA’s Mr. Robot and FX’s American Horror Story. In December 2016, Space 360 brought the world the first-ever panoramic video footage of planet Earth as seen from aboard the International Space Station.
In the online polls, RT’s special multi-platform live coverage of Moscow’s 71st Victory Day parade, honoring Russia’s triumph in WWII, garnered the most votes in the category of Best Live News Coverage, beating out ABC and Bloomberg. RT’s distinctive footage featured a series of panoramic videos shot from the cockpits of a Mil Mi-8 helicopter and a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter performing as part of the Russian Knights aerobatic demonstration team, as well as from inside a Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled gun and a Msta-S self-propelled howitzer.
With more than 1 billion views on its Facebook page, digital project In the Now was chosen over pan-Arabic news channel Al Jazeera by voters for Best Facebook Presence.
In April 2016, RT beat out BBC News, ABC News, NBC Nightly News, and the New York Times for the People’s Voice Award for Social Media in News at the prestigious Webby Awards – the leading international awards competition honoring online excellence. At the September 2016 ‘Lovie’ awards, RT received seven trophies for its achievements in digital media.
RT is a global TV news network that broadcasts 24/7 in English, Arabic and Spanish from its studios in Moscow, Washington, DC, and London. It is available to 700 million viewers worldwide. RT is the most-watched TV news network on YouTube with more than 4.5 billion views. It is the winner of the Monte Carlo TV Festival Award for best 24hr broadcast, and the only Russian TV channel to be a five-time Emmy finalist.