With thousands of fans and nominees tuning in from more than 90 countries and 185 parties worldwide, The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences honored the world's best Websites June 5, 2003 in the first Webby Awards announcement to take place completely online. Nick.Com, www.nick.com, won a Webby for best TV site. 2003 People's Voice Winners included CartoonNetwork.com, www.cartoonnetwork.com for Television and Disney's Toontown Online, www.toontown.com, for Youth.
"We are tremendously honored to receive such recognition for Toontown so early in its history," said Ken Goldstein, evp/gm of Disney Online. "The Peoples Voice Award is especially meaningful for our team because it says that weve impressed the most important critics of all, the wonderful people who are already playing the game. We hope their embrace will soon extend to an increasingly broad fan base." Disneys Toontown Online is a downloadable, immersive 3D multiplayer online game designed for both adults and kids as young as seven looking for a non-violent alternative to online gaming.
The Academy produced a spirited, community-driven online experience in which the 7th Annual Webby Awards were handed out in 31 categories. In keeping with Webby tradition, animated characters designed by the winners delivered the famous five-words-or-less acceptance speeches available at www.webbyawards.com/main/press/speeches.html.
Several sites won both a Webby Award and a People's Voice Award, which is determined by the public. Dual winners included NASA Earth Observatory for Best Education; PayPal for Best Finance; Do-It-Yourself Network for Best Living; Lonely Planet Online for Best Travel; and Flaming Lips for Best Music.
The online announcement was the culmination of 24 hours of worldwide celebrations that kicked off with a party in Wellington, New Zealand and continued around the globe with gatherings attended by more than 6,000 people in Paris, downtown Manhattan, Cleveland, San Francisco and dozens of other cities.
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences is dedicated to the creative, technical, and professional progress of the Internet and evolving forms of interactive media. The Academy's goal is to assemble a brilliant panel of leading new media experts, visionaries, journalists, and luminaries to propel the Internet and Interactive Technology into the future. The Academy is an intellectually diverse organization that includes more than 480 members, such as musicians Beck and David Bowie, Internet inventor Vint Cerf, political columnist Arianna Huffington, Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser, THE SIMPSONS creator Matt Groening, SMART MOBS author Howard Rheingold, Oracle chairman Larry Ellison and The Body Shop president Anita Roddick. Members also include Web developers, Internet experts and technology writers and editors from publications.
For a list of all this year's Webby winners, visit http://www.webbyawards.com/main/webby_awards/winner_list.html
