The Webby Awards, the leading international awards for websites, on Tuesday recognised the Mail & Guardian Online as Webby Worthy, a distinction made for the first time this year to recognise sites exhibiting remarkable achievement.
Hailed as the “online Oscars” by Time magazine, the Webby Awards are determined by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a global organisation with a membership that includes musician David Bowie, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, The Body Shop president Anita Roddick, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser and fashion designer Max Azria.
“The Webby Awards honour the outstanding websites that are setting the standards for the internet,” said Tiffany Shlain, creative director and founder of the Webby Awards. “The M&G Online‘s Webby Worthy selection is a testament to the skill, ingenuity and vision of its creators.”
“We are very encouraged by this recognition. It’s great that a South African website has been recognised as up there with the major international online brands,” said Matthew Buckland, publisher of the M&G Online.
Loren Naish, who produced the M&G Online‘s South African elections interactive guide for which the site was recognised, said: “Our elections guide was enormously popular and unique, using the latest Flash technology, which added interactivity and excitement to our election coverage.
“We hope to do more of this kind of work in the future and continue pushing the envelope as far as interactivity is concerned.”
The ninth annual Webby Awards received a record number of entries from more than 40 countries and all 50 American states. Out of the more than 4 000 entries submitted, fewer than 20% received this honour and were deemed Webby Worthy.
Nominees for awards this year include Guardian Unlimited, The New York Times on the Web, The Wall Street Journal Online and Washingtonpost.com in the newspaper category; BBC News and Wired News in the news category; and BBC Sport and ESPN.com in the sport category.
Other Webby Worthy sites chosen this year are CNN.com, CBS.com, Shockwave.com, The History Channel, Disney Online and National Geographic News.
Winners are to be announced on May 3 and will be honoured at a gala event in New York City’s landmark Gotham Hall on June 6.
Founded in 1996, the Webby Awards are known worldwide for their famous five-words-or-less acceptance speeches.
The M&G Online was the first internet-based news publication in Africa. Launched in early 1994, it is one of South Africa and Africa’s major news publishers and is reputed internationally for its quality content.
The M&G Online has received numerous accolades and awards, including being voted one of the world’s top 175 websites by Forbes.com in 2001.
The award-winning internet news publication and its sister newspaper, the M&G, have over the years become well known for their in-depth, analytical, quality, no-nonsense news features, combined with up-to-the-minute breaking news from South Africa, Africa and the world.
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