FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Judie Mulligan, mulligaj@fleishman.com
Fleishman-Hillard Public Relations, 415.356.1086
THE 1998 WEBBY AWARDS® UNVEIL NOMINEES FOR THE BEST WEB SITES OF THE YEAR
Dilbert Creator Scott Adams, Digital Guru Esther Dyson, Chasing Amy Director
Kevin Smith Lead List of Celeb Judges
San Francisco (December 2, 1997) – Kicking off the countdown to the
biggest night of the year for the online world, The Webby Awards® unveiled the nominees for the most sought-after honor
in digital media.
Tiffany Shlain, the producer of the Webby Awards® also announced some of the celebrities, leading media experts, and Web visionaries who will serve on this year’s judging panel. Leading the list are Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, digital guru Esther Dyson, director Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy, Clerks), Jane Magazine editor-in-chief Jane Pratt, and director Allison Anders (Grace of My Heart, Gas, Food & Lodging).
According to Shlain, nominees were chosen by the editors of IDG’s publication THE WEB Magazine from the thousands of sites reviewed by the magazine over the past year on the basis of content, design, links and overall quality. The panel of judges will choose a winner in each of the following categories: Arts, Community, Education, Film, Games, Health, Home, Living, Money/Business, Music, News, Politics/Law, Print/Zines, Radio, Science, Sports, TV, Travel, and Weird.
Winners will be announced at a gala awards ceremony and party at San
Francisco’s elegant Palace of Fine Arts and the Exploratorium on March
6, 1998. More than 2,000 movers and shakers in cyberculture, media and
entertainment are expected to attend.
Other confirmed judges include: Thomas Dolby, Musician and CEO of
Silicon Valley-based Headspace Inc.; Jon Plunkett, creative director of
Wired magazine; Greg LeFevre, CNN San Francisco bureau chief; Susan
Casey, creative director of Outside magazine; Joseph Montebello,
creative director at Harper Collins and Rand and Robyn Miller creators
of Myst & Riven CD-ROMs.
To date, the sponsors of this year’s event include Absolut Vodka, Real Networks, LinkExchange, Princeton Graphics, Chromatek, and Rent-A-Computer.
The Webbies™ honor the best creative and
innovative Web sites of the year and the talented editorial,
technical, and design teams behind them. Reflecting the boom in online
entertainment, the 1998 nominees range from Web powerhouses like Disney
(www.disneyblast.com) to the brilliant Mars Pathfinder
(mprwww.jpl.nasa.gov/default1.html) and Smithsonian (www.si.edu) sites
to the one-woman creation of ENTROPY 8 (www.entropy8.com), a contender
in the Arts category. See the attached list for a complete rundown of
nominees or go to www.webbyawards.com.
“The 1998 Webby Awards® has grown as quickly as the Web itself,” said
Tiffany Shlain, producer and creative director of the event. “We honor
the people who are transforming this medium into an artform. Between
this year’s stellar nominees, judges, sponsors and The Palace of Fine
Arts Theater, this show will be as grand as the winners.”
Also announced today was the launch of “The People’s Voice Awards”
voting site (www.webbyawards.com), an online ballot box where the public
can cast votes for their favorite sites in each of the 19 categories. By
voting, people are automatically entered into a contest to win
round-trip airfare to San Francisco to attend The 1998 Webby Awards®.
Produced by The Who and How Entertainment Network , the Webby Awards®
voting site will also carry a live webcast of the event 8 PST 3/6/98.
Last year’s Webby Awards® was the only Internet awards show to receive
national television coverage, including MSNBC, C|NET, The Discovery
Channel, and PBS. In addition, CBS affiliate Alice 97.3 FM broadcast
the awards live and a Webcast brought the event live to the online
community. The 1998 Webby Awards® promises to be the preeminent Web
awards show of the year.