Nearly everyone enjoys being recognized by friends and colleagues. But not everyone has the stamina needed to endure dozens of acceptance speeches. That’s why the organizers of the Webby Awards — described by The New York Times as “The Internet’s highest honor” — limit the lucky winners to five words.

On Monday evening, those winners of the 18th annual Webby Awards joined comedian and host Patton Oswalt for dinner, drinks and distinctions in the old New York Mercantile Exchange in Lower Manhattan. Publisher Zuade Kaufman, Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer, Managing Editor Peter Scheer and contributor Donald Kaufman were in attendance to collect the People’s Voice Award in the Best Political Blog category. Zuade Kaufman delivered the speech provided by Truthdig reader Lorrie Anne, one of dozens of readers who graciously answered the call to write our remarks. We thought a speech supplied by one of our readers was fitting given that our audience’s votes and continued readership made our recognition at the Webbies possible.

We extend a big, heartfelt thank you to everyone who voted, responded and continues to read Truthdig, and we offer our smiles below (from left, Peter Scheer, Donald Kaufman, Robert Scheer and Zuade Kaufman) as proof of our gratitude. Hear Kaufman read our acceptance speech here.

As an added bonus, here’s a clip of Kaufman (she appears at the 0:58 mark) in Webby Awards coverage from HLN:

Robert Scheer and Zuade Kaufman on the red carpet for the 2014 Webby Awards. Photo by Patrick McMullan

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