Cardi B and Steph Curry earn Webby Award nominations, along with Sydney Sweeney's bathwater

NEW YORK (AP) — Cardi B, Steph Curry, Dwayne Johnson, Justin Bieber and the use of Sydney Sweeney's bathwater are among the nominees for this year’s Webby Awards, which mark their 30th year recognizing the best online content and creators.

The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences on Tuesday is announcing the nominees, the result of more than 13,000 entries from over 70 countries. The Associated Press got an early look.

Webby nominations went to social media teams behind such political figures as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, while Kendall Jenner’s Super Bowl tongue-in-cheek Fanatics Sportsbook ad “Bet on Kendall,” about her bad luck dating athletes, earned three nods. Jenner will go head-to-head in the category of best viral PR campaigns with Sweeney, who offered her bathwater for fans to lather up with in a limited-edition soap made by Dr. Squatch.

The dozens of Webby awards are broken up into eight big categories, including games, podcasts, website and mobile sites, video and film, apps and software, AI, and advertising, media and PR.

Winners will be announced April 21. An awards ceremony hosted by Josh Johnson, a correspondent and writer for “The Daily Show,” will be held May 11 in New York.

The organizations with the most nods include Google with 46, PBS with 29, Apple with 23, The Walt Disney Company with 23, NBCUniversal with 22 and Netflix with 22.

Some of 2025's out-of-left-field products were recognized for their virality, including Absolut’s Tabasco-flavored vodka, cough drop maker Ricola offering a limited-edition scarf infused with its “signature Swiss alpine herbs” and two that leaned on a classic French pastry — Panera Bread’s Croissant Clutch handbag and Lidl’s Eau de Croissant fragrance.

The language-learning app Duolingo once again managed to grab attention with the faked death of its beloved mascot owl, Duo. That campaign — which prompted Dua Lipa to wittily respond on X with “Til’ death duo part” — was nominated for best PR campaign and best use of earned media. Lipa, herself, is in the running for her own Webby after Apple chronicled a full day on her Radical Optimism tour.

The finale of “Stranger Things” was a cultural phenomenon last year and its promotion, including a mobile scavenger hunt where users tapped a 20-sided die to enter the Upside Down, earned three nods. Speaking of scavenger hunts, Google Maps and Spotify were used in a nominated campaign for Bad Bunny fans to find track titles from his album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.”

A Los Angeles billboard featuring Curry got a nomination for going viral because it looks like he's shooting the moon, while fellow NBA star LeBron James' commercial for Amazon, showing him considering different post-basketball careers like barber and lounge singer, grabbed a nod for best collaboration.

The awards are selected by the academy, while the Webby People’s Voice Award is voted on by fans around the world. Voting for that award is open until April 16.

The music video for “Luther” by Kendrick Lamar and SZA is up against Sabrina Carpenter's “Tears,” Rosalía's “Berghain,” Little Simz's “Young’” and Claude's “C’est La Vie,” which competed at the Eurovision Song Contest. Lamar won last year's music video Webby for “Not Like Us.”

Two-time Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch nabbed two nominations for delivering dramatic readings of Amazon customer reviews for the second chapter of its “Five Star Theater” campaign. Blackpink’s Lisa is also nominated for leading a troupe of professional ballerinas and dancers in an ad for NikeSKIMS, which triggered countless recreations on TikTok. Global girl group Katseye earned a nod for their Gap “Better in Denim” commercial.

Dwayne Johnson's surprise visit to the Apalachee High School football team after a school shooting got a nomination in the best long-form video category. Lady Gaga answering fan questions on Spotify about the making of her album “Mayhem” was nominated for best events and livestream social campaign.

Food content creator Nick DiGiovanni earned two nominations, for putting MrBeast through culinary boot camp — a post that got more than 71 million views — and for cooking for animals, including a lion. MrBeast earned his own nod with the animated short series “MrBeast Lab.”

The folks behind a Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest that attracted thousands of people, including Chalamet himself, were recognized, while Chalamet's ad for Cash App — co-starring a giant prickly-looking tropical fruit — was nominated under the branded entertainment short-form video and film.

Bieber broadcasting the behind-the-scenes preparations for his Coachella headlining set live on Twitch was nominated for community engagement, while Sonic’s ad starring Terry Crews teaching acting for athletes earned one for best long-form branded entertainment.

Nominations for best feature podcast host went to “Good Hang with Amy Poehler,” “Next Question with Katie Couric,” “The Mel Robbins Podcast,” “Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky” and “Baby, This is Keke Palmer.”

Palmer’s podcast was also nominated in the interview or talk show category for entertainment and culture, alongside “Thanks Dad with Ego Nwodim,” “All There Is with Anderson Cooper,” “Office Ladies” and “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard.”

On the sports side, the podcasts nominated are: “Pablo Torre Finds Out,” “All the Smoke,” “New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce,” “Bussin’ With the Boys” and “7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony.”

Cardi B’s rollout for her album “Am I The Drama?” — including a stunt in which she sold her album for $9.99 and incense on a street in Harlem — got two nominations. The short film Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco did called “I Said I Love You First” earned one, too, as did Gomez's Rare Beauty line.

Science communicator and new mom Emily Calandrelli earned a Webby nomination after tangling with the TSA over her breast pump and stored milk, spawning #HandsOffOurMilk. Former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Bowen Yang and actor Matt Rogers got a nod after discussing the Olympics with “Sesame Street” characters for the NBC Olympics podcast “Two Guys, Five Rings.”

This combination of images shows Justin Bieber, from left, Cardi B, and Stephen Curry. (AP Photo)

HAVANA (AP) — A Russian tanker docked Tuesday at the Cuban port of Matanzas laden with 730,000 barrels of oil, marking the first time in three months that an oil tanker reached the island.

The administration of President Donald Trump had allowed the Anatoly Kolodkin to proceed despite an ongoing U.S. energy blockade.

Cubans including Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy cheered the ship’s arrival. A shortage of petroleum has exacerbated a deep economic crisis that has left the population mired in long blackouts and facing a severe shortage of food and medicine.

“Our gratitude to the Government and People of Russia for all the support we are receiving. A valuable shipment that arrives amidst the complex energy situation we are facing,” de la O Levy wrote on X.

Cuba produces barely 40% of its required fuel and relies on imports to sustain its energy grid. Experts say the anticipated shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cuba’s daily demand for nine or 10 days.

"The arrival of an oil tanker to a country has likely never generated so much news as the Russian one to Cuba,” wrote Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío on X. “It’s a sign of the brutal siege Cubans endure with heroism and stoicism. It’s a demonstration of the criminal cruelty of imperialism against a nation that refuses to be dominated.”

The vessel's arrival was watched by some fishermen as it docked under the early morning sun.

“We’ve been waiting for the ship to arrive because it’s been some time since any ship entered,” said 50-year-old Armando Ramirez. "And it is needed here for the people, for Cuba.”

Cuba used to receive most of its oil from Venezuela, but those shipments were halted ever since the U.S. attacked the South American country and arrested its leader in early January.

Since then, Mexico also has halted its oil shipments to Cuba as Trump threatened in late January to impose tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to the island.

On Sunday night, Trump had said he had “no problem” with a Russian oil tanker off the coast of Cuba delivering relief to the island,

“We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload because they need … they have to survive,” Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington.

“Cuba’s finished,” he added. "They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter.”

The vessel is sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom following the war in Ukraine.

On Monday, when asked about Trump’s decision to allow the Russian oil tanker and not ones from other countries, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it “a decision that will continue to be made on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian reasons or otherwise,” adding that “there’s been no firm change in our sanctions policy.”

Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been pressuring for major changes in Cuba's policies and governance, all while both sides acknowledged talks as the island's economic and energetic crises deepen.

Russian-flagged oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, left, passes the Cuban vessel Vilma as it approaches Matanzas in Matanzas, Cuba, Tuesday, March 31, 2026.. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Russian-flagged oil tanker Anatoly Kolodki, right, approaches Matanzas, Cuba, Tuesday, March 31, 2026.. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)