Academy announces nominees for Webby Awards 2010

Hailed as the internet's highest honor by the New York Times, the Webby Awards are coming again.

The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences recently announced its 2010 nominees for the Webby Awards, an international award honoring excellence on the internet, covering websites, interactive advertising, online video and mobile sites. The awards have been a yearly ritual since 1996, during the dawn of the internet.

Nominated for best news website was the BBC, NPR, Salon.com, the Guardian and the New York Times. In the category of guides and ratings, CNET.com, Metacritic, TripAdvisor, Yelp and Fizziology all received nominations.

Ben Carlson, president and co-creator of Fizziology, says that it's truly great to be recognized among so many well-known websites.

"It's a movie industry cliche to say 'it's an honor just to be nominated.' But we really mean it", says Carlson. "We're a business-to-business research company that works with movie studios. To be up against giants like Yelp and CNET for best review website is humbling".

Previous winners of the Webby have included the Huffington Post, and former U.S. vice president Al Gore, who received a lifetime achievement award for the "pivotal role he played in the development of the internet", according to the academy. As the awards are known for five-word acceptance speeches, Gore deadpanned, "Please don't recount this vote".