Like the best film for the Oscars, it is the last announced and receives the most attention. Their words to the world:”Ugly, commercial sons of bitches”.Other winners included in the News category CNN Interactive, which beat out the finalist BBC News Online, and Sportspages , which beat out the UK’s SoccerNet in the Sports category.The “Weird” class has become the most anticipated award of the evening. Representatives, who had apparently travelled from Barcelona for the ceremony, stormed the stage and angrily shoved a hapless cameraman. “Can you imagine just broadcasting this party? What a bore.”The ceremony itself was remarkably efficient.With its five-word acceptance speeches lasting an average of 3.6 seconds, the awards were handed out in a blur.Certainly the most bizarre incident of the night happened during the acceptance of first award, won by jodi in the Arts category. The entire event was covered live on the Internet, naturally, and the hidden camera – the same kind used by the FBI – was used to spice up the coverage.”I just wanted to make this interesting,” said Chris Courtney, principal of 1st Byte, which provided the video streaming.
Statuesque Suzy D, aged 24, a massage therapist and part-time Internet broadcaster, secretly videotaped the pre-awards party – including the words and image of one man who propositioned her – through a miniature camera clipped to a floral headpiece. The crowd was sprinkled with guests wearing everything from Thirties vintage bronze- coloured dresses and pillbox hats to aqua-blue Marge Simpson wigs. Balloting this year was audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers and sponsors included those corporate bluebloods Visa, Levi’s, Entertainment Weekly and Time Digital.Still, the event seems to have retained some edginess. San Francisco’s mayor Willie Brown, who took a few jabs at New York in his opening speech, pledged the city’s support to keep the Webbies in town.Since the inauspicious early days, the awards have clearly gone mainstream. New York’s mayor, Rudy Giuliani, spent the year trying to woo the Webby organiser Tiffany Shlain to the Big Apple.
Just two years ago the Webbies were being held in a local night-club called “Bimbo’s”. This year it drew more than 3,000 guests, filling the decidedly posh Herbst Theatre downtown. A gala bash was held across the street at the newly renovated City Hall.It’s no accident that the city of San Francisco offered up its legislature for the affair. “They declined to come,” said the director of operations, Claudia Smuckler, who added helpfully: “They’re here in spirit.”But while the celebs may have snubbed the event, there is little doubt about that it is gaining momentum and a profile. The IMDB site has now won the film category three years in a row.”I’m just a guy who likes movies who happened to have a website,”said Needham, beaming like a crowned beauty queen.Organisers clearly hope that the Webbies will eventually attain an Oscar- like cachet – but some recognisable faces in the crowd might help. The red carpet was rolled out, searchlights beamed into the sky, there were even paid groupies swooning and hooting for anyone who marched into the city’s Herbst Theater.The big problem, though, was that no one knew any of the movers and shakers of the industry, and the star judges, including Francis Ford Coppola (film), David Bowie ( music), Richard Branson (travel) and The X files’ Gillian Anderson (weird) were all no-shows.
