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Webby Awards
Web Design & Development Guide
Webby Awards
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The Webby Awards |
Webby Awards logo |
| Awarded for |
Excellence in
websites |
| Presented by |
International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences |
| First awarded |
1994 (original version)
1996 (current incarnation) |
|
Official website |
Presented by The
International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, The Webby Awards
are a set of awards presented to the "world's best
websites".
The awards have been given out since 1996. There is also a second set of awards
called the People's Voice Awards for the same categories which are given by
popular vote.[1]
History
The first Webby Awards
[2] were given out from 1994 to 1996 by the World Wide Web Organization
[3], an organization that was dedicated to the promotion of the Web. It was
largely decommissioned sometime after July, 1997. The organization was chiefly
sponsored by WebMagic, the Internet business developer that has built many well
known online businesses, including Toys.com (which became part of eToys), and
Pets.com. Additional sponsorship was provided by Cisco Systems and ADC
Telecommunications.
The second, and current, Webby Awards were founded in 1996 by
Tiffany Shlain, and sponsored by The Web magazine. When The Web
ceased to exist in 1998, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
(IADAS) was formed to take over.
[4]
The organizations that created the first and second Webby Awards were not
related to one another. It is not known if Tiffany Shlain was inspired by the
first Webby Awards or if she came up with the concept independently.
Awards granted
The Webby Awards and The People's Voice Awards have been awarded each spring
(since 1996), and The Webby Business Awards and Honorable Mentions each fall
(since 2003).
[5]
The Webby Awards require a $250 fee from all websites which they nominate,
which some blogs see as an unnecessary burden.
[6]
The Webby Awards categories
In each category, two awards are handed out: a Webby Award selected by
a panel of judges, and a People's Voice Award selected by the votes of
visitors to the The Webby Awards site.
- Activism: Sites facilitating political change, social movement,
rights, public education, or revolution.
- Best Practices: Sites demonstrating unparalleled excellence in
six areas:
-
- Content
- Structure & Navigation
- Visual Design
-
Interactivity
- Functionality
- Overall Experience
- Broadband: Sites fully integrating
bandwidth-intensive
interactive content.
- Commerce: Sites dedicated to selling goods and products online, or
using a 'particularly innovative' take on
e-commerce.
- Community: Sites creating/facilitating
online community, connectedness and communication around shared
interests.
- Education: Sites promoting education or providing learning
materials, for children or adults.
- Fashion: Sites dedicated to personal style, clothing, design, and
accessories.
- Film:
Sites dedicated to preservation, celebration and presentation of film and
film culture.
- Finance: Sites providing financial services and/or information.
- Games:
Sites dedicated to (the culture of) computer gaming.
- Government & Law:
Sites dedicated to legal and government matters.
- Health:
Sites dedicated to improving personal health and well-being.
- Humor:
Sites dedicated to comedy or the art of laughter.
- Kids:
Sites created for "the under-18 set".
- Lifetime Achievement: An honorary award granted to individuals
who have been integral to the growth of the Web.
- Living:
Sites providing information and resources that allow people to live on their
own terms.
- Music:
Sites dedicated to the distribution and presentation of music or its
culture.
- NetArt: Sites that integrate art and technology, exploring and
expanding the distinctive capacity of the medium.
- News:
Sites dedicated to announcing and tracking recent goings-on.
- Personal
Web Site:
Sites created by an individual about themselves, or sites dedicated to an
individual.
- Politics: Sites providing political information.
- Print & Zines: Sites dedicated to the written word, including
online versions of print publications.
- Radio:
Sites with ties to a radio network, station, or program.
- Rising Star: Given to the site with the greatest percent increase
in visitors from April to May of the year in question, according to
Nielsen//NetRatings data. Sites must meet a minimum cutoff of 500K
unique visitors for April and May to be considered.
- Science: Sites dedicated to scientific exploration and news.
- Services: Sites that enable real world activities online.
-
Spirituality: Sites dedicated to the spirit or the soul, or on any
Divine power.
- Sports:
Sites dedicated to athletics.
- Technical Achievement: Sites implementing technology that pushes
the envelope, inviting visitors to believe in what once seemed impossible.
- Top Global Properties (Top U.S. Properties): Given to the
site that draws the most visitors in the 14 countries that
Nielsen//NetRatings measure (the U.S.).
- Travel:
Sites dedicated to travel services and information.
- TV: Sites which are online counterparts of television programs or
networks.
- Weird: Sites so forward thinking they seem strange when viewed
without the future in mind.
- Youth: (see Kids)
The Webby Business Awards categories
- Automotive
- Creative Services
- Financial Services
- Food & Beverage
- "Good Deeds"
- Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals
- Information Technology
- Media/Entertainment
- Marketing & Communications
- Professional Services
- Retail
- Technical Services
-
Telecommunications
- Travel/Tourism
Honorable Mention Categories
- Branding
& Design
- Cost-Cutting/Operational Efficiency
- Customer Relationship Management/Customer Loyalty & Retention
- Integration of Online/Offline Experience
- Product Customization/Personalization
- Sales Lead Generation/Increased Sales
Acceptance Speeches
The Webbys are famous for limiting recipients to five word speeches, which
are often humorous. For example, in 2006 Cute Overload's was "not bad for
posting kittens" and TripAdvisor's was "because some hotels really suck". At the
2007 awards, David Bowie's speech was "I only get five words? Shit, that was five. Four more
there. That's three. Two."[7]
Criticism
San Francisco blog SFist has charged that the Webby Awards are essentially a
Who's Who scam, as they require a "processing fee" be paid for award
consideration.[8]
External links
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