Unveil Year's Best internet Web Sites; MySpace Founders, Thomas Friedman, The Gorillaz, Marc Cuban, Internet Co-Inventor Dr. Bob Kahn, and Webby Winners To Be Honored at June 12th Ceremony in New York
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NEW YORK, May 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The winners of the 10th Annual Webby Awards will be saluted alongside an remarkable slate of Special Achievement honorees, including the founders of internet web sites MySpace.com, Thomas Friedman, Mark Cuban, The Gorillaz, and Internet co-inventor Dr. Robert Kahn, at the June 12th gala in New York City, the International Academy of the Digital Arts and Sciences announced today.
Webby Awards winners were revealed today in 69 business, consumer and culture categories - from favorites like Community, Fashion, Film and Politics to new categories making their debut this year such as Podcasts, Best Visual Design, Business Blog and Best Use of Video or Moving Image. The 10th Annual Webby Awards received a record 5,500 entries from over 40 countries around the world.
In addition, over 300,000 votes were cast by people around the world speaking out for their favorite sites as part of the People's Voice Awards. A full list of Webby Award and People's Voice Award winners - and the people behind them - can be found at http://www.webbyawards.com/.
Organizers also announced recipients of this year's Webby Special Achievement awards, including:
-- Webby Breakout of the Year: social networking sensation MySpace.com
and its founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe.
-- Webby Artist of the Year: The Gorillaz, the world's most successful
virtual band and a pioneer in fusing music and animation.
-- Webby Entrepreneur of the Year: Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas
Mavericks and HDNet and evangelist for the power of technology to
drive change.
-- Webby Person of the Year: Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist
and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The World is Flat: A Brief
History of The 21st Century.
-- Webby Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. Robert Kahn, co-inventor of the
TCP/IP protocols, the technology used to transmit information on
today's Internet.
Proclaimed "the online equivalent of an Oscar" by the New York Times (June 21, 2005), The Webby Awards is the leading international honor for Web sites and the innovators behind them. The Webby Awards is presented by the Academy, a global organization with over 500 members including musician David Bowie, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, The Body Shop president Anita Roddick, "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening, Naked Chef Jamie Oliver, and fashion designer Max Azria.
Over 600 winners, industry leaders, and celebrities will attend the June 12th ceremony at New York City's landmark Cipriani Wall Street. For the second year in a row, Rob Corddry of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart will emcee the evening's festivities.
In keeping with Webby tradition, all winners and Webby Special Achievement honorees will be limited to five-word acceptance speeches. Last year's Webby Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Al Gore made worldwide headlines with his speech - "Please don't recount this vote."
"The winners of the 10th Annual Webby Awards reflect the web's incredible diversity and the vital role it plays in all aspects of our daily lives," said Tiffany Shlain, Webby founder and ambassador. "We're proud to salute the people and organizations whose groundbreaking ideas are reshaping how we experience our world."
Highlights of the 10th Annual Winners include:
-- Winners ranged from new and up-and-coming sites like The Huffington
Post (Political Blog), Style Wars (Best Visual Design) and
FabChannel.com (Music) to powerhouses like Paypal (Financial
Services), ESPN (Sports), Expedia (Travel), and Bank of America
(Banking/Bill Paying).
-- Reflecting the past year's news, trends, and ideas, winners include
The Katrina Help Center (Charitable Organization), San Francisco's
disaster preparedness site 72Hours (Government) and hybrid vehicle
guide UCS HybridCenter (Guides).
-- Sites winning in more than one category include BBC for BBC
Cumbria/Digital Lives (Community) and BBC News (News); Google for
Google Earth (Best Visual Design/Function and Broadband) and Google
Maps (Services); and Flickr (Best Navigation/Structure and Best
Practices).
-- People's Voice winners included established sites like BabyCenter
(Kids/Parenting), MyYahoo! (Best Home/Welcome Page), Library of
Congress (Cultural Institution), and CNET (Guides/Reviews/Ratings), as
well as popular favorites like TripAdvisor (Community), CuteOverload
(Cultural/Personal Blog), and Bebo (Social Networking).
-- 19 sites won both a Webby Award and a People's Voice Award including:
Redken Haircolor (Beauty and Cosmetics), Style.com (Fashion), The
Onion (Humor), 2006 Sundance Film Festival (Movie and Film), mediaBOOM
(Professional Services), Above the Influence (Youth) and Google Maps
(Services).
-- International winners of The 10th Annual Webby Awards include: The
United Kingdom's Official Portable PlayStation Site (Consumer
Electronics), The Netherlands' Fabchannel.com (Music), New Zealand's
NewZealand.com/travel (Tourism), and Canada's Big Ideas Come from Big
Pencils (Best Visual Design/Aesthetic).
-- Arnold Worldwide, POKE, Avenue A/Razorfish, Critical Mass, DDB, Big
Spaceship, Second Story Interactive, Framfab, Mullen, and Bloc Media
are among the interactive, advertising, and design agencies behind the
winning sites.
Title Sponsors for The 10th Annual Webby Awards are:
-- The new AOL.com(R), AOL's next generation broadband Web portal, offers
an extensive array of content and features available for free. Web
users can access industry leading communication products; the best
programming from news, sports and personal finance to music, movies,
television and games; as well as an innovative video media experience,
all from one place.
-- The Creative Group, a division of Robert Half International, the
premier staffing company for creative professionals.
About The Webby Awards:
Founded in 1996, The Webby Awards is the leading international honors for Web sites. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 535-member judging organization consisting of leading experts in a diverse range of fields. Sponsors and Partners of The Webby Awards include: AOL.com, The Creative Group; Verizon; Adweek Magazines; Fortune and FSB; OnRequest Images, IDG; PricewaterhouseCoopers; iStockphoto, American Marketing Association; 2Advanced Studios, 2 Advanced.net; MX Interactive; 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 interactive media. The Academy is an intellectually diverse organization that includes over 500 members consisting of leading experts in a diverse range of fields, such as musician David Bowie, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, business guru and author Tom Peters, The Body Shop president Anita Roddick, fashion designer Max Azria, Simpsons creator Matt Groening and Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser. For more information, visit http://www.iadas.net/.
Source: Webby Awards