We Won a Webby!

Can you believe iluli turned five (!!) in March? I was so oblivious to the rapid passage of time that the landmark date completely passed me by – until late April, that is, when a Webby Award or two came a-knocking.

Yes, you read that right! Having been a nominee and honouree on multiple occasions, 2024 was the year we finally won, securing both the Jury and the People’s Voice awards for best video in the Health & Wellness category. The video that did the business? Magic Mushrooms: A Mental Health Cure?

I’d love to play it cool and pretend we’re above winning awards, but that would be a bare-faced lie. It’s not why we do what we do – iluli grew from a passion for sharing knowledge, stoking curiosity and inspiring the next generation – but it does provide validation that we’re on the right track. To go toe-to-toe with the likes of The Washington Post – and come out on top – is an amazing achievement, and one which I’m immensely proud of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujr9iivLERs&t=2s

In the five years since launch, we’ve produced 68 videos, amassing over 100 million views on YouTube and 1.3 million watch hours – that’s more than 148 YEARS!  What’s more, I’ve shared more than 150 blog articles on topics ranging from artificial intelligence and augmented reality to campervanning, uncanny valley and veganism.

With so much content to host, the original iluli website was beginning to burst at the seams. So, we launched a new one! You can now browse the archive of videos with four categories to choose from: Tech, Health & Wellbeing, Smart Thinking and Earth & Space, or use the search bar or tags to discover blog topics that interest you.

So… what next? What do the next five years look like? Will iluli reach one million subscribers on YouTube? Will we win more awards? Or run out of things to talk about?

The past five years haven’t been without challenges. Maintaining our production schedule amidst a pandemic, for instance, was certainly not on my bingo card. But one thing that has remained consistent is my unquenchable thirst for knowledge. In 2022, I read (or listened to) 52 books – a new record for me. And I’m not talking Dan Brown novels here, but non-fiction gems from Daniel Kahneman, Walter Isaacson, Malcolm Gladwell, Ken Kocienda, Marty Cagan, Carol S. Dweck, Tim Harford, Simon Sinek, David Epstein, and Caroline Criado-Perez, to name but a few.

These books have formed the foundations for videos and articles including Does Science Have a Bias Problem?, The Value of Range, and Learning from Steve Jobs.

While my book tally may fail to reach the same heady heights this year, I still find inspiration around every corner. Documentaries, podcasts, New Scientist articles, Nerd Fests… so to answer my own question: the next five years will be jam-packed with more fascinating insights, amazing innovations and game-changing ideas and I, for one, can’t wait!

iluli may never be as popular as the likes of Kurzgesagt, TedEd or Veritasium. We may fail to win another Webby, or even get nominated for a Streamy. But it doesn’t matter. If you feel entertained and informed by the content we put out, that’s what counts. You never know, we might inspire the next Vera Rubin or Grace Hopper. Or, more importantly, the next generation of die-hard Back to the Future fans! It is the greatest movie trilogy of all-time, after all…