2007 YouTube and Yahoo! Awards. YouTube Wins.

Three weeks into March 2008 is a good time to look back on whole of 2007 with a discerning eye. You’re far enough removed from the year prior to keep the retrospection fair and balanced, close enough to still remember wtf happened, Spring and a sweet scent of new beginnings are in the air, and you’ve had more than enough time to waste a lot of it reviewing Rex Sorgatz’s year-in-review list of year-in-review lists.

At least that would seem the case considering both Yahoo! Video and YouTube decided this week was opportune for their respective 2007 Video Awards.

Editors from each video-sharing site culled through tens of thousands of vids uploaded last calendar year and selected half-a-dozen or so finalists in a number of familiar categories. Said finalists then spammed, begged, pleaded, and bribed anyone in possession of an e-mail account with instructions on who to vote for in hopes of winning what’s no longer much more than a popularity contest.

There’s still a few hours left to include your say on which videos win- YouTube’s contest turns into a pumpkin after midnight tonight and Yahoo’s is done at 11:59PM tomorrow – but who wins between the two contests?  YouTube, and it’s a blowout.

The finalists are good on both (Cooties, Break a Leg, David Blaine Street Magic, Potter Puppet Pals), but YouTube has way better categories (“Adorable” and “Eyewitness”), an awards page that’s one of the best designs for a video site I’ve ever seen, and big ass “play” buttons as prizes. Check ‘em out:

Winners for both will be announced later this week, and then we’ll see which video creators had access to the biggest rolodexes….or possessed the most talent….or, I suppose, a mix of both.