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STARS TURN OUT TO HONOR THE BEST WEB SITES OF THE YEAR AT THE WEBBY AWARDS 2000®
3,000 Digerati Attend Glittering The Webby Awards
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (May 11, 2000) – Capping a watershed year for the Internet, 3,000 digital dignitaries and wired celebs turned out to bestow Webby Awards on more than two dozen of the year’s best Web sites.
Presided over with wicked wit by Tony Award-winning actor Alan Cumming, the fast-paced, irreverent ceremony clocked in at under two hours thanks to the Webbys’ strict five-words-or-less speech limit. (For a complete list of winners’ speeches, go to http://www.webbyawards.com../../press/index.html).
An eclectic roster of stars, including comedian Sandra Bernhard, famed editor Tina Brown, and Mahir Cagri, the celebrated Turkish creator of the wildly popular Web site I Kiss You (http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/primall/mahir/index.html), were also on hand to present this year’s awards.
The Webby Awards are the leading international honors for Web sites. The awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, a diverse, 350-person organization whose membership includes David Bowie, Francis Ford Coppola, Julia Child, Robin Williams, Esther Dyson, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Parker Posey, and Deepak Chopra.
Crowd-pleasing favorites and a few controversial picks highlighted the evening as winners were called onstage to accept the coveted slinky-like statuettes. (See complete list of winners below)
Big winners included the music file-sharing site Napster (http://www.napster.com), which was named Best Music Site by both the Academy and by the more than 134,000 Web fans who registered to vote in the People’s Voice Awards, The Webby Awards’ tribute to democracy on the Web.
Other sites earning dual accolades included: Cocky Bastard a.k.a. John Halcyon Styn (http://www.cockybastard.com), which nabbed Best Personal Web Site, a new category; search engine Google, http://www.google.com (Best Technical Achievement); Merriam-Webster Word Central, http://www.wordcentral.com (Best Education Site); Scholastic.com (Best Kids Site), ESPN.com, http://www.espn.com (Best Sports Site), and four-time Webby winner The Onion, http://www.theonion.com (Best Humor Site).
Other Webby Awards’ winners ranged from Web stalwarts such as MSNBC.com, http://www.msnbc.com (Best TV Site) and Babycenter.com, http://www.babycenter.com (Best Commerce Site) to unheard of gems such as France’s The Cave of Lascaux, http://www.culture.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en (Best Science Site)
And, in what could constitute a virtual sweep, Slashdot.org, http://slashdot.org, took People’s Voice Awards home in both of the categories for which it was nominated: Best Community Site and Best News Site.
“This year’s winners hail from South Park, the South of France, Soho, and all points in between,” said Tiffany Shlain, the founder and director of The Webby Awards. “What links them, however, is that they represent the best of the best in a medium that knows no boundaries. We’re incredibly proud to shine the Webby spotlight on these extraordinary sites and the amazing people behind them.”
This year’s ceremony also marked the debut of the SFMOMA Webby Prize for Excellence in Online Art. The $30,000 prize was awarded to Entropy8Zuper!, the Belgium-based team of Michael Samyn and Auriea Harvey. Three artists – Ichiro Aikawa, Young-hae Chang and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer – were recognized with honorable mentions and $6500 apiece. The winning artists will be featured in e.space at http://www.sfmoma.org.
Shlain attributed the diversity of this year’s nominees to the Webbys’ first ever call for entries, which she said resulted in thousands of submissions from more than 27 countries. She said that aspiring Webby winners can submit their sites for consideration in the 2001 Webby Awards beginning tomorrow at http://www.webbyawards.com.
In keeping with this year’s dress theme, the top movers and shakers in cyber-culture, entertainment, media, and politics showed up at San Francisco’s Masonic Auditorium in their “snazziest” attire. The Webby Awards were viewed online around the globe via a live Webcast on Yahoo! Entertainment (http://yahoo.entertainment/webby). After the gala event, winners, nominees, judges, guests, and friends rubbed elbows at the post-ceremony bash in San Francisco’s breathtaking Huntington Park.
For high-res photos of The Webby Awards, visit http://www.webbyawards.com/press/photos.html.
Webby Awards 2000 Winners
Activism, AdBusters, http://www.adbusters.org
Arts, WebStalker, http://www.backspace.org/iod/iod4Winupdates.html
Broadband, Video Farm, http://www.videofarm.com
Commerce, BabyCenter, http://www.babycenter.com
Community, Café Utne, http://cafe.utne.com/cafe
Education, Merriam-Webster Word Central, http://www.wordcentral.com
Fashion, Paul Smith, http://www.paulsmith.co.uk
Film, Atom Films, http://www.atomfilms.com
Finance, Gomez.com, http://www.gomez.com
Games, Gamespy Industries, http://www.gamespy.com
Health, ThriveOnline, http://www.thriveonline.com
Humor, The Onion, http://www.theonion.com
Kids, Scholastic.com , http://www.scholastic.com
Living, Epicurious , http://www.epicurious.com
Music, Napster , http://www.napster.com
News, Jim Romenesko’s Media News , http://www.poynter.org/medianews
Personal Web Sites, Cocky Bastard , http://www.cockybastard.com
Politics and Law, Politics.com , http://www.politics.com
Print and Zines , Nerve , http://www.nerve.com
Radio, Lost and Found Sound , http://www.lostandfoundsound.com
Science, The Cave of Lascaux , http://www.culture.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux
Services, Evite , http://www.evite.com
Sports, ESPN ,http://espn.go.com
Technical Achievement, Google , http://www.google.com
Travel, Outside Online , http://www.outsidemag.com
Television, MSNBC , http://www.msnbc.com
Weird, Stile Project , hhtp://www.stileproject.com
People’s Voice Winners
Activism, The Hunger Site http://www.hungersite.com
Arts, SFMOMA Presents Bill Viola, http://www.sfmoma.org/exhib/viola/fr_splast.html
Broadband, Atom Films, http://www.atomfilms.com
Commerce, Amazon, http://www.amazon.com
Community, Slashdot, http://www.slashdot.org
Education, Merriam-Webster Word Central, http://www.wordcentral.com
Fashion, toddoldham.com, http://www.toddoldham.com
Film, Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com
Finance, PayPal, http://www.paypal.com
Games, Shockwave.com, http://www.shockwave.com
Health, Intelihealth, http://www.intelihealth.com
Humor, The Onion, http://www.theonion.com
Kids, Scholastic.com, http://www.scholastic.com
Living, Blue Mountain Arts, http://www.bluemountain.com
Music, Napster, http://www.napster.com
News, ABCNEWS.com, http://abcnews.go.com
Personal Web Site, Cocky Bastard, http://www.cockybastard.com
Politics & Law, FindLaw, http://www.findlaw.com
Print & Zines, http://www.slashdot.org
Radio, BBC Radio 1, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1
Science, Monterey Bay Aquarium, http://www.mbayaq.org
Services, Epinions, http://www.epinions.com
Sports, ESPN, http://espn.go.com
TV, CNN, http://www.cnn.com
Technical Achievement, Google, http://www.google.com
Travel, Discovery’s Travel Channel, http://travel.discovery.com
Weird, Stile Project, http://www.stileproject.com
Click here for a complete list of winners’ speeches.
About the Webby Awards
The Webby Awards are the leading international honors for Web sites. Nominees and winners are chosen by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. The Webby Awards are an IDG event. Sponsors for the 2000 Webby Awards include Intel, Hewlett-Packard, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Adobe, Modem Media, Flyswat, Visa, Warburg Dillon Read, BeSeen, Xpedior, AboveNet, Audi, commission junction, worldlyinvestor.com, PlanetClick, One Media Place, Fleishman Hillard, netRaker, The Creative Group, Netpulse, Ofoto.com, Entertainment Weekly, Business 2.0, Access Magazine, NewCity.com, Metropolis Editorial, MVFX and MVFXi, divisions of Manex Entertainment, Inc., ArtByte, MacWorld, San Francisco Bay Guardian, MacWorld Expo, MSN bCentral, Internet World, Upside Media, EMC, We Also Walk Dogs, The Hornet, Pacific Bell, Honkworm, Illusion 2K, Bla-Bla.com, Atomz.com, FloNetwork, Image Bank, eVite, and United Airlines. Balloting is audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The live Webcast is produced by USA Video Interactive and hosted by Yahoo! Entertainment.
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 goal of The Academy is to assemble a unique and brilliant panel of leading new media experts, Web visionaries, journalists, and luminaries to propel the World Wide Web into the future. The Academy is an intellectually diverse organization that includes over 350 members such as film director Francis Ford Coppola, musician David Bowie, Chairman of Miramax Talk Media Tina Brown, cyberguru Esther Dyson, creator of “The Simpsons” Matt Groening, National Public Radio personality Ira Glass, computer scientist Jaron Lanier, and Oxygen Media President Geraldine Laybourne. Members also include writers and editors from publications such as Wired, Details, Fast Company, Elle, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Vibe, Forbes, and Premier. For more information, visit www.iadas.net.
About IDG
IDG publishes more than 290 computer magazines and newspapers and 700 books and offers online users the largest network of technology-specific sites around the world through IDG.net, which comprises more than 240 targeted Web sites in 55 countries. IDG is also a leading producer of 168
computer-related expositions worldwide and provides IT market analysis through 49 offices in 41 countries worldwide. Company information is available at http://www.idg.com.