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IN FIVE WORDS OR LESS:
WEBBYS ARE COMING TO YOU
Seventh Annual Webby Awards to Be Presented Online
San Francisco, CA – April 25, 2003 – With concerns about traveling heightened by global events, The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences announced today that it would bring The 7th Annual Webby Awards to winners around the world rather than having honorees travel to San Francisco on June 5th for an awards ceremony.
Almost 90 percent of this year’s nominees hail from outside the San Francisco Bay Area with a record 24 international nominees from countries such as Japan, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, France, The Netherlands, Canada, and Germany. U.S.-based sites hail from more than 20 states.
Since the nominations were announced two weeks ago, a significant number of nominees have expressed concerns about traveling at this time, according to Maya Draisin, executive director of The Academy.
“With our nominees now reflecting a truly global web, we’re facing new considerations, especially in light of everything that’s going on in the world,” said Draisin. “Presenting the awards in San Francisco without all of the nominees present is not true to the spirit of the Webbys, so we decided to bring the Webby Awards to them instead.”
“Our nominees are using the web in new and original ways to bring people together,” said Tiffany Shlain, the founder of The Webby Awards. “We want to follow their lead by using the medium to honor winners in a powerful and uniquely Webby way.”
The Webby Awards event had been scheduled to take place at Teatro ZinZanni in San Francisco. A portion of the tickets purchased by The Webby Awards for that night’s performance will be donated to local charities dedicated to bridging the digital divide, according to Draisin and Shlain.
New plans for unveiling winners – and their famous five word speeches – will be announced in the coming weeks. Draisin and Shlain said that they would also be joining with offline partners to help them deliver the news to winners.
In the meantime, the public can vote for their favorite nominees in the People’s Voice Awards at http://www.webbyawards.com/peoplesvoice/ through May 23, 2003.
The Academy is also currently seeking entries for the first-ever Webby Business Awards, which will honor companies that excel at using the web as a mature tool to achieve critical business goals. To enter, visit http://www.webbyawards.com/webby_biz/index.html for submission guidelines and entry fees.
About the Webby Awards Founded in 1996, The Webby Awards is the leading international honors for consumer Web sites and individual achievement in technology and creativity. The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences selects the nominees, winners, and presents the awards event. Sponsors of The 7th Annual Webby Awards include media partners Business 2.0, Fortune and Fortune Small Business magazines; Event partners PricewaterhouseCoopers and Nielsen//NetRatings; Official Sponsors The Creative Group, IDG, Absolut Vodka, Comstock Images, and Rackspace Managed Hosting. For more information visit http://www.webbyawards.com/.
About the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences is dedicated to the creative, technical, and professional progress of the Internet and evolving forms of interactive media. The Academy’s goal is to assemble a brilliant panel of leading new media experts, visionaries, journalists, and luminaries to propel the Internet and Interactive Technology into the future. The Academy is an intellectually diverse organization that includes over 480 members such as musicians Beck and David Bowie, Internet inventor Vint Cerf, political columnist Arianna Huffington, Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser, “The Simpsons”creator Matt Groening, “Smart Mobs” author Howard Rheingold, Oracle chairman Larry Ellison, and The Body Shop president Anita Roddick.
Members also include web developers, internet experts and technology writers and editors from publications such as The New York Times, Wired, Forbes, Spin, Fast Company, Travel + Leisure, the Los Angeles Times, Dwell and wallpaper. For more information, visit http://www.iadas.net.