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THE WEBBYSThe OSCARS OF THE INTERNETby Madelyn Miller
But now I know it is the highest honor you can get on the Internet. Like the Academy Awards, it is bestowed by professionals in the field. For Glamorous Geeks and Digital Darlings it is the event of the year. More than 3000 online luminaries turned out to honor their own at the third annual Webby Awards where 22 spiraled silver statuettes were handed out to the masterminds behind the 1998's best Web sites in categories ranging from Arts to Weird. This year, I was honored to be asked to judge the travel category of the Webby's.
My children, on the other hand, were immediately impressed. They spend half their lives online and they thought this was definitely the coolest thing their mother had ever done. Of course the voting was done online. Access was through a special judge code word. So I never got to actually meet or get the autograph of all the other famous judges. So I decided I had to actually attend the Webbys. Good decision. Great event. The judges and nominees met for the first time at a BBC cocktail party the night before the big event (don't worry, it was all kosher. PriceWaterhouseCooper had already tabulated the votes so there was no lobbying. The closest I ever experienced was when one of the travel category nominees asked me if he should wear anything special to the awards. That was a silly question, because the dress code was described as "spiffy," and everyone certainly interpreted that in creative ways.) The elaborate BBC event at the Top of the Mark was only a taste of what was to come. And tasty it was. A whole ocean must have died for the spread of sushi. For dessert there were chocolate computer screens and chocolate fondue. I filled my mini-computer with chocolate fondue and forgot all about the fruit. The main event on Thursday was held at San Francisco's Herbst Theatre. As guests entered, mock and some real "paparazzi" clustered around the red carpet leading to the entrance, snapping photos and creating a sense of celebrity.
The ceremony was presided over by Marc Maron, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" regular and the star of several Comedy Central and HBO comedy specials, who entertained the audience with his "twisted" sense of humor. But I thought one of the most entertaining parts of the evening was the acceptance speeches. Limited to five words, they truly tested the creativity of the winners. My favorites were the movie winner http://www.imdb.com who proclaimed, "I'm king of the World Wide Web" and the two acceptors for the living category, http://www.babycenter.com who accepted with the words, "thanks Mommy" and "thanks Daddy".
I will never forget the food at the after party. Each room was color-themed with lights, and food and servers coordinating with the designated color. The red room had apples, tomatoes and poached salmon. The green room had green vegetables, green pasta, and pork in a green herb sauce. The blue room was the best. Piles of blue jelly beans, blue Jell-O shots and blueberry tarts were a colorful dessert ending to a very colorful evening. The Webby's also has a people's choice since the Internet is open to everyone. So you can be a judge too, in the people's choice. You might not get to attend all the parties, but you should check out the website. For ideas about other interesting things to do in San Francisco Best way to get to San Francisco is on the airline that is as creative and irreverent as most of the Webby guests Southwest Airlines The Kimpton Group A hotel with as much character as the Webbys |
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TM
Three years ago if you had asked me what a Webby was, I
probably would have guessed that it was a baby duck.
In fact, when I saw the list of other judges..DAVID BOWIE,
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, TINA BROWN, DEBORAH NORVILLE, ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, and
others, I immediately called my mother. This was definitely the most exciting
thing I had ever done. Even though my mother still can't use the Internet, she
had certainly heard of all the other judges. 
Viewing the costumes people wore was a highlight for me. I
mean, I guess you could call the things people wear to the Academy Awards
costumes, but the Webby dress had overtones of Halloween. One finalist who
created a game site came dressed as a teletubby. Others wore a mixture of fez,
sari, the Simpsons, and sometimes all in one costume. My glitzy Texas gold
leather cowboy outfit seemed tame by comparison. 
The Webby Awards were viewed online around the globe via a
live Webcast. After the gala event, winners, nominees, judges, guests and
friends rubbed elbows at the post ceremony bash in San Francisco's
breathtaking, newly-renovated City Hall. Trailblazing multimedia artists
Emergency Broadcast Network (EBN), a headliner on the ABSOLUT DJ tour, took the
stage and were followed by the funk/hip/hop recording stars G. Love &
Special Sauce. Absolut Vodka also gave out black feather boas studded with
Absolut logos for anyone who felt they had to augment their attire.