Following the presentations, winners were selected in each of the competition’s three categories:
Boombaker from Berlin won the music category.
Philantroph from Ludwigsburg won the film category.
Missy Magazine from Hamburg and Berlin won the urban-culture category.
Recordings of the submitted projects, performances, and festival are available at hobnox.com/evolution.
Each winner receives €25,000 in support. An industry panel and Hobnox will determine how the budgets are used over the coming weeks. The objective is to define individual packages addressing each artist’s greatest need, whether financing a screenplay or developing and implementing a marketing plan.
The festival followed a competition phase lasting more than three months, during which more than 1,300 projects were presented on hobnox.com and around 31,000 users registered. The nine finalists were invited to the Hobnox Evolution Festival at Tresor in Berlin for the final round.
The event also marked the next expansion stage of the Hobnox portal. During a closed beta, registered users can access the portal’s new functions. The first two browser-based tools and an extensive library have been available since yesterday.
The Stage remains freely accessible, as do the Hobnox channels. Creatives can present completed work to users and the Hobnox editorial team on the Stage. The editorial team will continue producing content for the Hobnox channels while placing greater emphasis on discovering notable Stage submissions and featuring them in those channels.
The competition has also created opportunities beyond the prizes. Sony BMG selected participating band EndlosEndlos as the support act for MGMT’s concert at Lido in Berlin-Kreuzberg on 7 March, an early indication that Hobnox can serve as a talent pool and career springboard.
Hobnox has also reached the shortlist for the 2008 LeadAwards in the Web Community of the Year category. CTO Andreas Jacobi and program director Yousef Hammoudah, both Hobnox founders, will attend the awards in Hamburg on 5 March and present the new Hobnox portal at the LeadAwards symposium.
