FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Patrick Kowalczyk, patrick@mkpr.com
Jill Feldman, jill@mkpr.com
Michael Kaminer Public Relations, 212.627.8098
THE SEVENTH ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS ®
ANNOUNCE NOMINEES FOR BEST SITES OF THE YEAR
San Francisco (April 8, 2003) – Power to the people.
Living up to the web’s democratic roots, sites that spur dialogue and action on everything from the war in Iraq and grassroots organizing to newsgathering and online auctions are among the nominees competing for The 7th Annual Webby Awards, The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences® announced today.
At a time when record-breaking numbers of people are going
online to follow current events, the Academy unveiled the nominees for the
year’s best web sites in 30 categories, including Activism, Community, Film,
News, Personal Web Sites, Politics, and Spirituality. A complete list of
nominees is available at http://www.webbyawards.com/main/webby_awards/nominees.html.
Hailed as “the online Oscars” by Time (May 13, 2002), The Webby Awards is the leading international honors for web sites. The awards are presented by the Academy, a global organization that includes over 480 members such as musicians Beck and David Bowie, Internet co-creator Vint Cerf, political columnist Arianna Huffington, “Smart Mobs” author Howard Rheingold, “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening, Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser, The Body Shop president Anita Roddick, and Oracle chairman Larry Ellison.
The public can also vote for their favorite web sites in
The People’s Voice Awards. Beginning today through May 23rd, online fans can
cast their ballots at http://www.webbyawards.com/peoplesvoice/.
“This year’s nominees clearly demonstrate how the web is increasingly being used as a tool to empower people, not just politically but also technologically, spiritually, and in countless other ways,” said Maya Draisin, executive director of The Academy. “By transforming traditional offline routes, this year’s nominees are helping to change the way we think, interact, work, and live in ways both large and small.”
Draisin cited nominees such as
Movable Type http://www.movabletype.org and Live Journal http://www.livejournal.com, which have contributed to the explosion in personal web logs, and MeetUp.com http://www.meetup.com and MoveOn.org http://www.moveon.org, two sites that have been used in innovative ways to organize people worldwide.
“This year’s nominees are a tribute to the web’s power to facilitate worldwide conversation on ideas that are often overlooked in traditional media,” said Tiffany Shlain, founder and creative director of The Webby Awards.
While the list of nominees includes web stalwarts like eBay, ESPN.com, HBO.com, MSNBC.com, and popular newcomer NetFlix, it also boasts a record 24 international nominees, including Homeless www.abc.net.au/homeless (Australia); Japanese Streets www.japanesestreets.com (Japan); Lucire www.lucire.com (New Zealand); City of Bologna www.comune.bologna.it (Italy); Blinkenlights www.blinkenlights.de
(Germany); and David Still www.davidstill.org (The Netherlands).
Several sites received more than one nomination. BBC-affiliated web sites received three nominations: BBC Video Nation www.bbc.co.uk/videonation
(Community); BBC News www.bbcnews.com (News);
and BBC Religion and Ethics www.bbc.co.uk/religion (Spirituality).
PBS received two nominations for Commanding Heights Online
www.pbs.org/commandingheights
(Best Practices and Broadband) and one for Frontline World
www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/ (Television).
Google also received two nominations for Google www.google.com (Technical Achievement) and Google News news.google.com (News).
Additional sites receiving two nominations include: CBC Radio 3 www.cbcradio3.ca (Broadband and Radio); Disney’s Toontown Online www.toontown.com (Games and Youth); NASA www.nasa.gov (Education and Government & Law); the New York Times www.nytimes.com (Education and Travel); The Onion www.theonion.com (Humor and Print & Zines); oddtodd.com www.oddtodd.com (Humor and Living); Sodaplay www.sodaplay.com (Education and Youth); and Metacritic www.metacritic.com (Film and Music).
For the third year, the Academy will present The Best Practices Award, which recognizes a single web site that
serves as a model of excellence. This year’s nominees are:
Commanding Heights Online www.pbs.org/commandingheights; Edutopia www.glef.org;
Movable Type www.movabletype.org, Theban Mapping Project
www.thebanmappingproject.com; and Wired News
www.wired.com.
Winners of The 7th Annual Webby Awards will be announced on
June 5th, 2003 in San Francisco. In keeping with Webby tradition, winners
will once again be held to a five-words-or-less acceptance speech.
The Webby Awards and People’s Voice Awards voting process
is audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Review all the nominees for the 7th Annual Webby Awards at
http://www.webbyawards.com/main/webby_awards/nominees.html.
Download a Word Document with all nominees:
http://www.webbyawards.com/main/press/index.html
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.