Webby Awards hit ripe old age of 10

Nominees for the 10th annual Webby Awards were announced Tuesday, and the list of potential honorees reads like a who's who of well-known Web properties.

The awards--which have seen the Internet rise, fall and rise again with the birth of Web 2.0--will be presented June 12 at a ceremony in New York City hosted by comedian Rob Corddry of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." Winners will be officially revealed May 9.

Awards will be granted in 65 categories, including activism, banking and bill paying, celebrity/fan, humor, personal Web site, science and more.

"Whether you call it 'Web 2.0' or nothing at all, this year's nominees reflect how consumers are taking the lead and reshaping the Web to make it even more vital, useful and meaningful," said Webby Awards Executive Director David-Michel Davies.

Among the nominees in the best-practices category are Bloglines, Google Maps, Technorati, Writely.com and Flickr (which is also nominated in the best navigation, best visual design and social-networking categories). The Web site for Fox's "The Simpsons" got a nod in the television category and Rocketboom is mentioned in the "best use of video or moving image" category.

Among those sites lauded for being "weird," in a good way, are the Boneless Pig Farmers Association Of America, Car Stuck Girls and urban-legend tracker Snopes.com.

Web users will also be able to vote in the "people's voice" awards through May 5.

[M C]

Webbys are given only to sites who pay the entry fee.

While they seem to have established a lock on awarding prizes to web sites, the Webby Awards won't be legitimate (in the same way that the Emmys are for TV or the Tonys for theatre) until they stop charging entry fees.

They should be selecting from ALL sites, not just the ones who pay to be considered.