Qai Qai, Serena Williams' daughter's favorite doll, wins 2022 Webby Award

Qai Qai, a doll Serena Williams gave her daughter Olympia several years ago, has been bestowed the 2022 Webby award in the Weird Social category.

The Webby Awards have been awarded since 1997 by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences to honor excellence on the internet. A judging body comprising more than 2000 industry experts presides over the awards, with two winners selected for each category -- one decided by members of the academy and one by public voting.

Qai Qai was the winner of the former voting poll in a category that aims to "reflect a unique perspective in thought and action strong enough to start a revolution, change a behavior pattern, or advance old thinking lodged in bad habits." The doll has its own Instagram account, where the news was shared.

"Beyond honored to have received my first Webby!! Thank you, Webby Awards and special thanks to everyone who voted for me," the post was captioned.

Serena Williams presented Qai Qai to Olympia because she wanted her daughter's first doll to be black

Serena Williams gave Qai Qai to Olympia because she wanted her to have a black doll first

Serena Williams initially gave Qai Qai to Olympia specifically to ensure that her daughter had a black doll as her first doll. The 23-time Grand Slam champion pointed out that she never had opportunities to play with black dolls growing up and that she wanted to give her daughter an experience that she herself was denied.

The American was of the opinion that it would teach her to love everyone irrespective of their color.

"Qai Qai is a doll I got for her. I wanted her to have a black doll. Growing up, I didn't have that many opportunities to have black dolls. And I was just thinking, like, I want her first doll to be black," Williams said. "And her heritage, obviously she's mixed, she's Caucasian and black, but I feel like that was her first doll and I said her second doll would be Caucasian. I definitely want to always teach her love and teach her just that humans should always have love for each other, no matter what colour they are."

In an Instagram post last year, the former World No. 1 announced that she was planning to launch a book about Qai Qai, which would be a story about the "power of friendship and imagination."

"Since realizing Qai Qai’s ability to spread joy to our own family and also millions of others around the world, we’ve wanted to tell her story in every way possible," Serena Williams wrote. "We are so proud to announce Qai Qai’s first book, “The Adventures of Qai Qai,” a story about the power of friendship and imagination."