Barack Obama competes with Catalan town Vilassar de Mar in Twitter’s ‘Shorty Awards’

The Town Hall’s twitter is a finalist in the ‘Best Government’ category in the third edition of the US-based Shorty-awards. @vilassardemar is the only European site nominated.

CNA / Jordi Pueyo / Ignacio Portela Giráldez

March 21, 2011 07:28 PM

Vilassar de Mar (ACN).- The Catalan coastal town of Vilassar de Mar (23 km North from Barcelona) is a finalist in the 3rd edition of the ‘Shorty-awards’. These awards recognise the best Twitters of the year in different categories like ‘Actors and Actresses’, ‘Celebrities’, ‘Art’, ‘Authors’ and Vilassar de Mar’s twitter is a serious contender in the ‘Government’ category thanks to the votes of millions of users that helped this small town compete against twitters such as US president Barack Obama, analyst John Moore, Newark’s mayor, Cory Brooker, Congresswoman Virginia Eric Cantor, and the British Lord Credo. Furthermore, @vilassardemar is the only European site nominated and is currently third in the number of public votes in this category, out of a total of 353 candidates, ranking over such twitters like NASA, Sarah Palin or Arnold Schwarzenegger.


The ‘Shorty-Awards’ also known as ‘The Shorties’ honour the best creations of the micro-blogging website Twitter. Organised by Sawhorse Media, ‘The Shorties’ are held at the Galapagos Art Space in New York since 2009. The awards are voted by Twitter users distributed in 26 categories ranging from ‘Actors’ to ‘Weird’. In this year’s edition, other nominees include celebrities such as actor Nathan Fillion, Justin Bieber, British author JK Rowling and even virtual characters like The Sims.  The list of winners it will not be revealed until March 28th, in a ceremony held in New York.

Vilassar de Mar was a pioneer in opening both Twitter and Facebook accounts in order to get in touch easier with local people and inform them about activities and services. Many towns from the area have followed their example and are now including new technologies in their communication system.