Google, Jay Z among winners of 18th Annual Webby Awards

A group of about 1,000 Web experts and Internet professionals come together each year and choose the best of the best of the Internet. Nominees and winners often include famous celebrities, groundbreaking tech companies, innovative mobile apps and hugely popular games.

Announced on Monday, the winners of the 18th Annual Webby Awards included search giant Google, crowdfunding site Kickstarter, and Jay Z. The awards were presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, and this year's judges included Tumblr founder David Karp and "House of Cards" actor Kevin Spacey.

Each category is split in two: an award from the academy and a "people's voice" award in which anyone can cast an online vote. Winners in the "people's voice" category included Beyonce, Tumblr, the NASA website and satirical news site The Onion -- which was also the academy's pick in the humor category.

The website "Reasons My Son Is Crying" received both the Webby and the people's voice award in the personal blog or website category. The site features photos of bawling children captioned with the reasons they are upset, which range from "I wouldn't let him eat dog food" to "We told him that his dinosaur is blue."

Music group De La Soul won the 2014 Artist of the Year Webby "for their bold, daring decision to offer their entire discography for free download," organizers said.

Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig won a lifetime achievement award. Lessig co-founded Creative Commons, which provides a way for people to license their online work for public use.

The Jamaican Bobsleigh Team won Athlete of the Year honors for using crowdfunding to finance its trip to the Sochi Olympics. The team raised $129,687.17 from the crowdfunding site Crowdtilt and also received unsolicited donations from the supporters of Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency inspired by a silly Internet meme.

In a statement announcing the nominees earlier this month, executive director David-Michel Davies said that this year's contenders showed the "promise of a connected society where our social interactions help shape and enable so much of our daily life."