There is, obviously, what with this being the internet, a separate category for Cats. Or cat-egory. The .GIFYs is a new annual award dedicated to celebrating the internet's funniest and finest gifs – those little looped images that prop up entire corners of Reddit and Tumblr – with categories including art and design, news and politics, sport, and animals. And cats.
Set up by an advertising agency, CP+B LA, the shortlists were chosen by a panel including Buzzfeed's animal editor, a Gawker editor and Lil Bub, the cat who found internet fame, and are being put to the public vote before the winners are unveiled on 31 January.
The best? Oprah unleashing BEES!!! on her audience. Or the one of Toronto mayor Rob Ford dancing. Or the otter playing with the stacking cups. Or all the cat ones. Oh, I don't know. How will people choose? And are they pronounced "giffy" (with a hard G) or "jiffy"? (The file format, which stands for Graphics Interchange Format, was invented by Steven Wilhite who last year said it was pronounced "jif".)
"The gif is now 26 years old, and there are millions of them online," said one of the awards' co-founders, William Sawyer. "It's time they received their due respect with a proper awards show." Let the best cat – I mean, gif – win.
