The Webby Awards - run by the The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences - are the pinnacle of recognition that Internet sites receive from the industry for excellence in the online realm. And in its sixth edition, the Webbys saw quite a few media firms getting a pat on their backs for their Internet forays.

The BBC pocketed two awards - one for Best News and the second for Best Radio. The Osbournes a reality show focusing on rock star Ozzy Osbourne's family bagged one for best television. Search engine Google pocketed the best practices award for the second year in succession for serving as a model of excellence.

Several sites walked away with both a Webby Award and a People's Voice Award, which is decided by public vote. Dual winners included espn.com for Best Sports, Lonely Planet Online; Amazon.com for Best Commerce; The Onion for Best Humor; epicurious.com for Best Living; and evite.com for Best Services.

The sixth year of the Webbys witnessed a record number of entries - indicating that the disgruntlement by the business world with the Internet was easing off. Entries from 36 nations came in. Among these: AllAfrica.com (Mauritius-News), Debkafile (Israel-News), BBC News Online (United Kingdom-News), Freemuse (Denmark-Music), RTE Interactive Radio (Ireland-Radio), and The Vatican (Vatican City-Spirituality).

"This year's winners and nominees surely live up to the title 'world wide'," Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain reportedly told the attendees at the awards ceremony. "The Webby Awards are proud to honor the Web sites that are setting the standards for the medium and bringing the world online."

Three new awards- The Rising Star Award, the Top Global Site and the Top US site - were unfurled at the Webby Awards 2002. These recognise sites that excel at attracting visitors and were presented in partnership with Nielsen//NetRatings.

The winners of the three awards were the following in the order stated: self-assessment site Emode, Yahoo! and AOL.com.

The list of winners:
ACTIVISIM: tolerance.org
BEST PRACTICES: Google
BROADBAND: GUGGENHEIM.COM
COMMERCE: Amazon.com
COMMUNITY: Idealist.org
EDUCATION: Exploratorium
FASHION: ZOOZOOM.com Magazine
FILM: Donnie Darko
FINANCE: Yahoo! Finance
GAMES: Netbaby
GOVERNMENT and LAW: Library of Congress
HEALTH: teenwire.com
HUMOR: The Onion
KIDS: OLogy
LIVING: epicurious.com
MUSIC: LOOPLABS
NET ART: 360degrees
NEWS: BBC News
PERSONAL SITE: The Committee to Free Lori Berenson
POLITICS: Center for Responsive Politics
PRINT and ZINES: Salon.com
RADIO: BBC Radio 4 website
SCIENCE: Becoming Human
SERVICES: evite
SPIRITUALITY: BeliefNet
SPORTS: ESPN.com
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT : David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
TRAVEL: Lonely Planet Online
TELEVISION: The Osbournes
WEIRD: Devices of Wonder
RISING STAR: Emode
TOP U.S. PROPERTY: AOL
TOP GLOBAL PROPERTY: Yahoo!

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