Each year, The Lovie Awards selects a group of Europe’s foremost iconoclasts, digital icons, creatives and experts to honour with Special Achievement Awards for their exceptional use of the Internet to create ingenious work. We are thrilled to recognise trailblazing vanguards Ai Weiwei, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, Emanuel Wallace (a.k.a Big Manny), Brando Benifei, and Dragoș Tudorache!
This year’s recipients are an incredible group of revolutionaries who have left a mark on Europe, and the world, by fighting injustice, embracing joy, and creating transformative policy and resources. Each has uniquely harnessed the power of technology to entertain, educate, connect, and inspire.
See our 2023 Lovie Special Achievement winners below, and view all of the Winners of the 13th Annual Lovie Awards in our all-new Winners Gallery!
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Meet the 2023 Lovie Special Achievement Winners
🇨🇳 Ai Weiwei - 2023 Lovie Lifetime Achievement Award
From his first 1995 series, Study of Perspective—to his 2023 interactive digital iteration with Avant Arte—Ai Weiwei has established himself as an icon unafraid to hold truth to power. His work reflects on the systemic issues that lead to injustice, inequality and inequity. He also reflects on the past and the ways it can influence our present if buried. Weiwei’s multimedia practice is also distinct—he wields photography, sculpture, documentary film, paint, ceramics, and more to express his views on humanity, freedom, and oppression. Whether it’s raising awareness of the global migration crisis with his Stockholm installation Good Fences Make Good Neighbours or his Prague debut Law of the Journey, Weiwei is an unyielding emblem of freedom. For these reasons, we are thrilled to honour Ai Weiwei with the 2023 Lovie Lifetime Achievement Award.
🇬🇧 Amelia Dimoldenberg - 2023 Lovie Creator of the Year Award
Amelia Dimoldenberg captured the hearts of audiences worldwide with her digital series Chicken Shop Date. She delivers her deadpan humour and hilarious questions with a straight face, as she interviews stars like Rosalía, Ed Sheeran, Munya Chawawa, Asim Chaudhry, and Maya Jama. Dimoldenberg amassed a subscriber base of 2 million on YouTube by uniquely tapping into subcultures, inviting favourites of the London music scene for a date with her dry sense of humour. She charmed audiences worldwide by creating an interview series akin to classic fan favourites like “Carpool Karaoke” and “Hot Ones”—but with a fresh angle and contemporary feel. For these reasons, we are thrilled to honour Amelia Dimoldenberg with the 2023 Lovie Creator of the Year Award.
🇳🇱 Dr Rebecca Gomperts - 2023 Lovie Activist of the Year
At a point where the freedom to choose didn’t exist, Dr Rebecca Gomperts fought to make it a reality by giving women direct access to abortion—first, from a mobile clinic disguised as an art installation, then from international waters through her NGO Women on Waves. Gomperts is a pioneer in helping women, and pregnant people reclaim their power to make decisions about their bodies—even in countries where it’s outlawed or highly dangerous. When she faced obstacles at international borders, Gomperts quickly took her work to the Internet to make access that much easier. She founded Women on Web in 2005, then Aid Access later in 2018, where women in almost 200 countries can easily order abortion pills and information on how to take them at home safely. We are honoured to recognise Dr Rebecca Gomperts with the 2023 Lovie Activist of the Year Award for unabashedly fighting for the freedom to choose and breaking down systemic barriers that hinder life-saving services.
🇬🇧 Emanuel Wallace, aka Big Manny - 2023 Lovie Special Achievement Award
Bunsen burners, periodic tables, melting copper and making alloys—Emanuel Wallace, a.k.a. Big Manny, has made a name of himself as the next generation’s “David Attenborough of science.” His TikToks acquired viral fame for his relaxed and unpretentious science experiments. His keen ability to harness technology to educate and inspire has built a following of over 900k on Instagram and 1.6m on TikTok. Big Manny’s engaging clips, which strikingly blend entertainment and education, have led him to appear on CBBC and BBC Bitesized. He’s democratising knowledge and showcasing science as cool to young viewers online. For his use of digital to educate and make complex concepts digestible in less than 3 minutes, we’re thrilled to recognise Big Manny with a 2023 Lovie Special Achievement Award.
🇮🇹 Brando Benifei and 🇷🇴 Dragoș Tudorache - 2023 Lovie Special Achievement Award
As the Internet expands into new forms—with the explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) in the past year marking a turning point for digital—European Union Parliament members Brando Benifei and Dragoș Tudorache are defining Europe’s framework that will regulate AI and how it’s used. Representing all 27 EU countries, they’re spearheading the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, the first-of-its-kind policy defining AI’s legal and ethical limits based on the risks it poses. From initial drafts to final negotiations with member states, they have worked with the EU to develop rules that ban risky use cases like algorithms that predict crime or facial recognition software. For swiftly navigating negotiations and lobbying to find the right balance for Europe in the AI space, we are thrilled to honour Brando Benifei and Dragoș Tudorache with a 2023 Lovie Special Achievement Award.