With First YouTube Awards, A New Type of Star Is Born

"Ask a Ninja" was one of seven favorites among YouTube video viewers. (Youtube.com)

The series "Ask a Ninja" and OK Go's treadmill-choreographed music clip are among seven winners in the first YouTube Video Awards, the video-sharing site announced yesterday after a one-week fan voting period.

"These individuals put the first stitches in the fabric of the YouTube community," said Jamie Byrne, the site's head of product marketing. "Instead of seeing a way to share videos, they saw an opportunity for worldwide visibility and through their success have changed the landscape of how a 'star' is defined."

The power-pop band OK Go, perhaps the most professional of the mostly amateur nominees, won Most Creative Video for its "Here It Goes Again" clip. "Ask a Ninja," the popular comedy created by Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, won for Best Series.

"Ask a Ninja" triumphed over perhaps YouTube's biggest celebrity: Lonelygirl15. That bedroom production finished fourth, behind "Ask a Gay Man" and "Chad Vader."

Terra Naomi won for Best Music Video for her song "Say It's Possible," a one-shot clip of her playing acoustic guitar and singing. Naomi has parlayed her online success into a record deal with Island Records, which plans to release her debut album this summer.

For Best Commentary, a vlogger known as "The Winekone" won over Peter Oakley ("Geriatric1927") and Paul Robinett ("Renetto"). And Juan Mann's video calling for a "Free Hugs Campaign" won for Most Inspirational.

Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox, also known as Smosh, won for Best Comedy Video, and Dony Permedi's animated video "Kiwi!" -- which began as a master's thesis on animation -- won Most Adorable Video.

The clips can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/YTAwards.