Webbies reward social networking

By Steve Malone

Posted on 11 May 2006 at 10:52

The annual Webby awards have recognised the trend towards social networking and web applications.

Overall, (as they say at the Oscars) it was also a good night for the Brits which clearly had nothing to do with the fact that TV chef Jamie Oliver and David Bowie were among the judges as well as Simpsons creator Matt Groening.

The Webbies, now in their tenth year, are seen as the online equivalent of the Oscars. The awards are intended to recognise the best sites of the last year.

The BBC traditionally does well in these awards and this year was no exception. The Beeb picked up three awards. The corporation gained two for its news interactive coverage to add to the two it got last year. And, just to prove you do not need huge traffic and a multi-million business plan to win, the BBC Cumbria website/Digital Lives site scooped the best community web site award. The Guardian Unlimited took the 'Best Newspaper' site award.

The 'virtual band', the Gorillaz added to their heaving mantelpiece of awards by taking the Webby Artist of the Year award

The UK's 'Official Playstation Portable' site won best consumer electronics site fighting off challenges from the likes of Blackberry, Lenovo and Sony's own Walkman microsite. Barbican Education got a gong for its 'Can I have a word' educational site.

It was also a good night for social networking sites. Thomas Anderson and Chris DeWolfe, the founders of the runaway success, MySpace.com won a special Webby Breakout of the Year award. They might also have won a 'Money to burn' award as they sold the site to Rupert Murdoch's News International for $580m last year.

The FlickR picture sharing service snapped up by Yahoo! last year won awards for Best Practices and Best Navigation. There were also awards for Google Earth and the popular Epicurious also won two awards for Best Food and Best Lifestyle destinations.

On a more serious note Dr Robert Kahn won the Lifetime Achievement award for work he did in the mid 1970s developing the TCP/IP protocols which underpin the foundations of the Internet and without whom, there would be no Webbies at all.

The Webby awards ceremony itself will take place in June. Guests will have to sit through a bottom-numbing 74 awards with awards for 'Best Insurance' and 'Best Banking' site, presumably to attract the sponsors, although traditionally, the winners' speeches are limited to just five words.