George Clooney, Steven Soderbergh, Mark Cuban, and Jeff Skoll Share Top Rave Award as WIRED's Renegades of the Year

SAN FRANCISCO, May 16 /PRNewswire/ -- WIRED Magazine, the touchstone for what's next in business, technology, and culture, today announced the winners of its seventh annual WIRED Rave Awards, which recognize leading innovators in 16 categories. The top award, for WIRED Renegade, goes this year to a gang of unlikely rebels: a couple of dotcom billionaires, an Oscar-winning director, and the actor who was the toast of this year's Oscars. Mark Cuban, Jeff Skoll, Steven Soderbergh, and George Clooney are breaking the bigger-is-better mind-set in filmmaking. Together, they've demonstrated that risk-taking, message movies can compete with popcorn blockbusters at the box office. Using new ideas and technologies -- broadband distribution, 4K digital projectors, and simultaneous multiplatform releases -- they're building a new economic model for Hollywood.

Other winners this year include blogger Gina Trapani for the DIY site, Lifehacker.com; Judge John E. Jones III, whose verdict in Kitzmiller v. Dover School District ruled that intelligent design is "nothing less than the progeny of creationism" and should not be taught in public schools; and indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, which has sold more than 100,000 copies of its debut album -- without a record label. In the new category of Podcasts, The Ricky Gervais Show is honored for proving the staying power of the podcast medium with fresh and hilarious content for fans to enjoy on demand.

Finally, faced with the prospect of handing out yet another well-deserved Rave Award to Steve Jobs, WIRED's editors took the unprecedented step of creating a separate award in his honor. The inaugural Steve Jobs Award, recognizing sustained excellence and creative genius, goes to ... Steve Jobs.

"This year's Rave Award winners have challenged conventional wisdom, defied critics and created something genuinely new to transform our culture," said Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief of Wired Magazine. "They inspire new ideas and most of all, they inspire us."

  The 2006 WIRED Rave Award Winners:

  -- Architecture:  Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr, Architecture for
     Humanity
  -- Blogs:  Gina Trapani, Lifehacker.com
  -- Books:  Daniel Wilson, How to Survive a Robot Uprising
  -- Business:  Philip Rosedale and Linden Lab, Second Life
  -- Film:  Bryan Singer, Superman Returns
  -- Games:  Rob Pardo and Blizzard Entertainment, World of Warcraft
  -- Industrial Design:  Squid Labs and Instructables.com
  -- Medicine:  Jeffery Taubenberger, for sequencing the genome of the 1918
     flu virus
  -- Music:  Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
  -- Podcast:  Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington, The
     Ricky Gervais Show
  -- Policy:  Judge John E. Jones III, ruling on intelligent design
  -- Science:  Peter Diamandis, X Prize Foundation
  -- Technology:  Jesse James Garrett, Ajax
  -- Television:  Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone; The
     Lonely Island and Saturday Night Live
  -- Steve Jobs Award:  Steve Jobs
  -- WIRED Renegades:  George Clooney, Mark Cuban, Jeff Skoll, Steven
     Soderbergh; The New Hollywood

WIRED will honor the Rave Award winners in all 16 categories at a reception this evening at the St. Regis hotel in San Francisco. All 2006 Rave Awards winners are featured in WIRED's June issue, on newsstands May 23.

Presenting sponsors of the 2006 WIRED Rave Awards are Land Rover and Kodak. The Official Spirits Sponsor is Grey Goose. More information on the awards can be found at http://www.raveawards.com/.

About WIRED Magazine

WIRED Magazine is the first word on how technology is changing our world. Each month, WIRED explores the future of business, culture, and innovation.

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