Meet The 2018 Lovie Awards Special Achievement Winners

The 8th Annual Lovie Awards is thrilled to recognise Special Achievement Honourees including Stormzy (Lovie Person of the Year), Dr. Sue Black (Lovie Lifetime Achievement) and more.
Each year, The Lovies recognises a select number of Special Achievement honourees alongside our winners. These are European innovators who have changed the possibilities for digital work and use the Internet in pursuit of a better world. Learn about the Special Achievement Winners we’re honouring this year on stage at the 8th Annual Lovie Awards.
World-renowned recording artist Stormzy is the 2018 Lovie Person of the Year for embracing the power of the Internet to create positive change.
From promoting his new scholarship fund for black students at Cambridge, to his wildly successful #MerkyAirways campaign with Spotify Premium to launch #Merky, the imprint he created with Penguin Random House to publish up-and-coming writers, Stormzy has redefined what it means to be an artist and activist in the digital age and millions of people are better off for his enterprising efforts.
Dr. Sue Black is this year’s Lovie Lifetime Achievement recipient for her dedication to computing and the Internet.
From her successful work to save Bletchley Park and a crucial piece of codebreaking history, to her founding of #TechMums, Dr. Black’s work is tied to the growth of the Internet and the role of women in its past, present and future.
She’s even received the Order of the British Empire for her contributions to technology. We are honoured to honour her.
Alex Bertie is this year’s Lovie Creator for Change in recognition of his YouTube channel, where he catalogues his experience in transitioning from female to male.
Through his frank, funny and sweet videos, Bertie demonstrates an innate understanding of the power of the social web—and video in particular—to make the world a better place.
At a time when voices of hate and intolerance are being elevated on the Internet, it is all the more important to have authentic, unabashed and open voices like Bertie’s that keep important conversations going, and that amplify stories that need to be heard.
Don’t ask him to take his jacket off. Man’s Not Hot! But he is this year’s Lovie recipient for Outstanding Comedic Performance.
“He,” of course, is none other than Michael Dapaah, best known as Big Shaq.
From developing an enormous following with his #SWIL web series to redefining the meaning of viral with “Man’s Not Hot,” watched nearly 300 million times and counting, Big Shaq has demonstrated an innate connection with Internet culture that few creators share.
The Bureau Local will receive this year’s Lovie Be Greater with Data Award. Operating on a core belief that information is power and that transparency is vital, The Bureau Local demonstrates an innate understanding of the power of the web to reveal the truth. By connecting member journalists from all corners of the UK community via their open resources protocol on Google Drive, Slack and GitHub, their reporting shines light on issues from both a hyper-local perspective and in aggregate, a national one. What’s more, with The Bureau’s recent expansion into Germany, this important work and impact is spreading every day.
As Director, Megan Lucero will accept the Lovie on behalf of The Bureau Local.
This year’s Lovie Emerging Entrepreneur is Hans Jørgen Wiberg, founder of the incredible service Be My Eyes.
With nearly 1.5 million sighted volunteers connecting with 95,000 blind-and low-vision individuals, in hundreds of countries and languages, Be My Eyes has created a global network of human beings connected through their phones by the desire to help and ask for help. And it has provided an incredible, at-the-ready service for those who are low-vision or blind and in need of assistance.
While the “real world” has created a divide between blind and sighted individuals, Be My Eyes is a true technological bridge and an example of the Internet’s best potential realised.
Special Achievement Winners will be honoured along with all Lovie Winners at the 8th Annual Lovie Awards on Thursday, 15 November at the British Film Institute, Southbank in London. Subscribe to The Lovie Newsletter to get the highlights from the 2018 Lovie Awards.