USA Network has announced the winners of the first-ever Character Approved Awards to honor individuals from a cross-section of creative disciplines who are positively influencing American culture. This year’s winner for New Media/Technology is Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. An Alabama-born former options trader, Wales set out in 2001 to create an open online encyclopedia that would become “the sum of all human knowledge.” With over 10 million user-created articles in 253 languages, Wikipedia has become a global virtual community of millions where everyday people are the writers and editors. For more information on Jimmy Wales and the Character Approved Awards, visit http://characterapproved.usanetwork.com.