--- title: This GIF Won 2014's GIF of the Year description: Watch President Barack Obama on a skateboard canonical: https://time.com/3739732/gif-won-obama-skateboarding/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-10T20:59:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:33.458Z og:title: This GIF Won 2014's GIF of the Year og:description: Watch President Barack Obama on a skateboard og:url: https://time.com/3739732/gif-won-obama-skateboarding/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b9cef4c7fc670a1/69878311e20a875fe6a85828/465683960-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=396&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 396 og:image:height: 223 og:image:alt: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the National League of Cities annual Congressional City Conference in Washington on March 9, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This GIF Won 2014's GIF of the Year twitter:description: Watch President Barack Obama on a skateboard twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b9cef4c7fc670a1/69878311e20a875fe6a85828/465683960-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=396&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This GIF Won 2014's GIF of the Year > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: 30-Second Tech Trick: Make Animated GIFs from YouTube Videos [Watch (HLS stream): 30-Second Tech Trick: Make Animated GIFs from YouTube Videos](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Ee0VXzc0.m3u8) (0:30)  _Published 2014-09-03. I made one of me crying on a five-second loop for...reasons._ by [Drew Mackie / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Drew Mackie / People Contributor Mar 10, 2015 8:59 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the National League of Cities annual Congressional City Conference in Washington on March 9, 2015. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the National League of Cities annual Congressional City Conference in Washington on March 9, 2015. Pool—Getty Images by [Drew Mackie / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Drew Mackie / People Contributor Mar 10, 2015 8:59 PM UTC We continue to live in a world of GIFs. We use them to talk and to mock and to react when words fail us. It may not surprise you to learn, then, that there is an awards show that celebrates GIFs specifically: the GIFYs. After accepting votes from the public for 2014’s best GIFs in categories such as “animals,” “cats” (in a class by themselves), “weird” and “art + design,” winners were announced March 5. The No. 1 gif, according to voters, featured President Barack Obama skateboarding. It debuted on an episode of _The Tonight Show_. For comparison’s sake, 2013’s GIF of the Year featured Oprah Winfrey unleashing a swarm of angry bees upon her studio audience. And because your day may be lacking in amusing GIFs, here also are the GIFs of the year in the categories of animal, cat, weird and art + design. [http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/giphy.gif](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/giphy.gif) [http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/giphy.gif](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/giphy.gif) [http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/giphy.gif](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/giphy.gif) See the rest of the winners on [the GIFYs’ official site](http://giphy.com/gifs/oprah-bees-dcubXtnbck0RG). Nominees were submitted by the general public and also hand-picked by a panel of expert GIF-ologists. The awards show itself is presented by the Los Angeles branch of ad agency [Crispin Porter + Bogusky](http://www.cpbgroup.com/). _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/article/obama-skatebording-best-gif-2014) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com)_._ _Read next:_ [_TIME’s Eric Garner Video Wins World Press Photo Award_](http://time.com/3739455/eric-garner-world-press-photo-award/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ## Transcript Today I'm gonna show ya how to take a chunk of a YouTube video and turn it into an animated GIF. Yes, I said GIF. I know the inventor says it's pronounced jif, but come on. First, find the video you want on YouTube. Then up in the address bar, you're gonna type GIF in front of YouTube. It'll take you to this handy dandy site, load up your video. You're gonna scrub through the video to find the start time you want, and then choose the length of the GIF you wanna make. I'm gonna make mine five seconds. A little churning. A quick whiff of ozone. And before you know it ,. There's your GIF. Me crying on a loop for 5 seconds. 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