Wired magazine revealed the winners of its fifth annual Rave Awards, honoring 20 mavericks, dreamers and innovators inventing the future, at a gala event in San Francisco on March 15. "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson was lauded for achievements in film and multi-talented artist David Byrnes for his creations with PowerPoint. Steve Jobs was named Wired's 2004 Renegade of the Year for setting the agenda in digital entertainment with Apple's iTunes Music Store and with Pixar's animated hit "Finding Nemo."
Joe Trippi, former head of Howard Dean's political machine, and Scott Heiferman, cofounder and CEO of Meetup, two men whose use of the Internet has rewired grassroots organizing, share the Rave Award for politics.
Wired named 15 other people, who are paving the way to tomorrow, as Rave Award winners in 10 additional categories: books, Rebecca Solnit; business, Jeff Bezos; industrial design, Antenna Design's Sigi Moeslinger and Masamichi Udagawa; music, The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd and Michael Ivins; architecture, Zaha Hadid; software, Bram Cohen; games, Richard Marks; television, Mike Lazzo; medicine, Joseph DeRisi; and science, Public Library of Science's Patrick Brown, Michael Eisen, Harold Varmus.
Wired's "Brain Trust," an international jury of visionaries including film producer Brian Grazer, Pulitzer-prize-winning science writer Natalie Angier, Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley, recording artist Moby, Netflix President Reed Hastings, and MoMA's chief curator of architecture and design, Terrence Riley, assisted in the selection of nominees; the magazine's editors chose the winners. Readers voted online to help determine the prestigious Renegade of the Year.
"This year's Rave Award winners are known for their bold, provocative ideas and accomplishments," says Wired Editor in Chief Chris Anderson. "They are among the visionaries who are transforming our culture, and we are eager to see what they do next."
Anderson and Wired Publisher Drew Schutte unveiled the winners at the Rave Awards celebration at The Fillmore, San Francisco's legendary entertainment venue. A full editorial feature on the winners appears in the magazine's April issue, on newsstands March 23. Jackson, Byrne and Jobs each is featured on a leaf of the issue's unique three-page cover.