Two UK sites win in US Webby Awards

Cyber-culture's top movers and shakers, including two UK websites, were among those honoured by the glitzy Webby Awards.

Following a year of dramatic highs and lows for the web world, the annual dotcom version of the Oscars recognised a record number of nominees in 30 award categories.

The BBC World Service www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice won for Best Radio Web Site, while Plus Magazine took top honours in the Science area.

Google www.google.com was presented with the award in the "Best Practices" category for its strong internet search engine.

Craigslist www.craigslist.com was named Best Community Site, Travelocity was singled out as Best Commerce site, and Yahoo! www.yahoo.com received accolades for Best Finance Site.

The Onion www.theonion.com was awarded Best Humour Site, and YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, www.yhchang.com, was named for Best Arts Web Site.

During the ceremony, Intel chief executive Andy Grove presented the Technical Achievement Award to Microsoft Windows Update, while ABC's famed newsman Sam Donaldson presented The People's Voice Awards, which are chosen by the public.

A highlight of the evening was Vint Cerf, known as the "father" of the internet, presenting an award to techno-pioneers Douglas Englebart and Ray Tomlinson for their work in the 1960s and 1970s.

Tiffany Shlain, founder and director of the Webby Awards, said: "We are not only honouring excellence, but tenacity and survival. Challenging times push people to be the most creative they can be, and that's clearly reflected in this year's winners."

Not forgotten during the evening were the ghosts of notable Webby nominees in 2000, such as Webvan, eToys, and Pets.com.

The Webbys are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences and recognise categories that range from community to music to kids.

Academy members, including include Bjork and David Bowie, judged the awards. Acceptance speeches are limited to five words.

The gala event, with about 3000 attendees, was sponsored by Adobe. Intel sponsored the post-ceremony party.

See also:

Ecommerce awards 'deeply flawed'

Government criticised for lack of insight  21 Jun 2002

Schmidt's job search ends at Google

He liked the technology so much, he decided to head the company.  07 Aug 2001

Dotcom worst is over, claim researchers

Fall in casualties may indicate that 'plateau' has been reached.  02 Aug 2001

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