FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Judie Mulligan, mulligaj@fleishman.com
Fleishman-Hillard Public Relations, 415.356.1086
THE 1999 WEBBY AWARDS REVEAL NOMINEES FOR THE BEST WEB SITES OF THE
YEAR
Webby Awards to Take Place in
San Francisco on March 18, 1999; David Bowie, Tina Brown, Francis Ford
Coppola Lead List of Celeb Judges
San Francisco (January 6, 1999) – Kicking
off the countdown to the Internet’s biggest night of the year, The International
Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS) (www.iadas.net) today announced
the nominees for the coveted 1999 Webby Awards.
Capping a year of explosive growth for online
entertainment and commerce, officials from the Academy unveiled nominations
for the best Web sites of the year in 22 different categories ranging
from Film and Finance to Science and Sports. A
complete list of nominees follows this announcement.
“The 1999 Webby Award nominees truly reflect
the diversity and creativity that make the Web such an amazing place to
engage, entangle, and explore,” said Tiffany Shlain, president of the
Academy and creative director/executive producer of The Webby Awards.
“We’re thrilled that this year’s nominees range from sites produced by
single artists to Web powerhouses, and that they hail from around the
globe, including Ireland, Great Britain, and Russia. They certainly represent
the best and brightest of what the Web has to offer.”
Winners will be revealed at the third annual
gala awards show at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre on Thursday, March
18, 1999, followed by a celebration party at the just-renovated City Hall,
a Beaux-Arts national landmark, Webby Award organizers also announced
today.
The Webby Awards are the leading creative honors in digital media. More
than 3,000 “digerati” and celebrities from around the globe are expected
to descend on San Francisco for what has become one of the year’s hottest
tickets, while hundreds of thousands more tune in to the Webcast.
Shlain also revealed some of the leading
celebrities and new media experts who will serve as judges. Leading the
eclectic list: David Bowie in Music; Tina Brown in Print/Zines, Francis
Ford Coppola in Film; Esther Dyson in Finance; Deborah Norville in News;
Kate Spade in Fashion; Arianna Huffington in Politics; and “Dilbert”
creator Scott Adams in Humor.
While these experts are casting their votes,
the public will be picking their own favorite sites of the year in The
People’s Voice Awards. In a tribute to democracy on the Web, Shlain said
that more than 200,000 are expected to vote online at The Webby Awards
Web site . Winners of The People’s Voice Awards will also be announced
at The Webby Awards show on March 18, 1999.
The 1999 Webby Awards also mark the first
time that the awards have used an outside auditing firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers,
to audit its balloting process.
Webbies Producers Announce
1999 Sponsors
Sponsors
for the 1999 Webby Awards reflect its growth from an industry event
into a major entertainment event. Professional services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers
is sponsoring the awards’ VIP Party and Intel is the exclusive sponsor
of the post-ceremony bash. Other sponsors include Entertainment Weekly;
TIME Magazine (Digital Supplement); Broadvision; AdForce; Link
Exchange; TipWorld; Alice 97.3 (CBS radio affiliate); PCWorld;
Industry Standard; ArtByte; The Menlo Technology Group;
vivid studios (Web site creator); Intervu (official Webcast sponsor);
and AboveNet (Web site host). Shlain
said that additional sponsors will be announced in the coming weeks.
About The Webby Awards
The Webby Awards are the leading creative
honors for digital media. Nominees and winners are chosen by members of
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a global organization
dedicated to the creative, technical, and professional progress of new
media. The Webby Awards are an IDG event. More
information and access to 125 IDG World Wide Web sites is available at
http://www.idg.com.