The Web has become very diverse. Don't think so? Consider the list of some 140 nominees competing for The 6th Annual Webby Awards.

The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences Monday announced its short list of the best, brightest and most bizarre rest stops on the Information Superhighway.

Among the sites being considered for the Internet award: How about the Vatican and Planned Parenthood or the Peace Corps and the U.S. Army?

There are some 28 categories, including Activism, Finance, Community, Film, Travel, Personal Web Sites, Sports, Spirituality, and Weird. Nominees in NetArt and Technical Achievement will be announced Monday, May 6. A complete list of nominees is available at their home site.

"With more than 500 million people online today, we've reached a stage where the Web is part of the fabric of our lives," said Maya Draisin, the executive director of The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. "The 2002 nominees - both large and small - are setting the standards for the medium and transforming the way we live."

Winners will be announced at The 6th Annual Webby Awards, which will be held on Tuesday, June 18th, 2002 at the California Palace of The Legion of Honor in San Francisco.

In keeping with Webby tradition, winners will once again be held to a five-words-or-less acceptance speech. Last year's finest moment: "Bush volunteers, it's that easy," said VolunteerMatch founder Jay Backstrand, who won two Webby's last year.

The Sixth Annual Webby Awards also mark the debut of three new awards: The Rising Star Award, which recognizes the fastest-growing site, Top U.S. Site, and Top Global Site. In partnership with Nielsen//Netratings, these awards are determined using their Internet audience rankings for May 2002.

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As evidence of a growing interest in the Webbys and the Web itself, the Academy received a record number of entries this year, with submissions coming from 36 countries. 2002 international nominees include 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).

Several sites are also nominated in more than one category including: Idealist.org (Activism and Community); Beliefnet (Community and Spirituality); and Amazon.com (Best Practices and Commerce). BBC-affiliated Web sites are nominated in three categories - News, Radio, and TV.

"The 2002 nominees demonstrate that the Web is really getting back to what it does best - connecting, building communities, entertaining, and enhancing everyday life," said Webby Awards founder and director Tiffany Shlain.

For the second year in a row, the Academy will present The Best Practices Award, which recognizes a single Web site that serves as a model of excellence. This year's nominees are Google.com (2001 winner), Amazon.com, National Geographic, Peace Corps, and U.S. Army Basic Training.

The Webby Awards and People's Voice Awards voting process is audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. (no Anderson jokes please)

Called by some the "Oscars of the Internet," The Webby Awards is an international honor for Web sites and individual achievement in technology and creativity.

The awards are presented by the Academy, a diverse, 350-person organization whose membership includes Francis Ford Coppola, David Bowie, Esther Dyson, Rob Glaser and Julia Child. The list:

ACTIVISIM:
AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org

CorpWatch.org
http://www.corpwatch.org

Idealist.org
http://www.idealist.org

PETA.org
http://www.peta.org

tolerance.org
http://www.tolerance.org

BEST PRACTICES:
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com

Google
http://www.google.com

National Geographic
http://www.nationalgeographic.com

Peace Corps
http://www.peacecorps.gov

US Army Basic Training
http://www.goarmy.com/basic

BROADBAND:
120Seconds.com
http://www.120seconds.com

bThere
http://www.bthere.tv

GUGGENHEIM.COM
http://www.guggenheim.com

KaZaA
http://www.kazaa.com

Oddcast
http://www.oddcast.com

COMMERCE:
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com

BabyCenter
http://www.babycenter.com

Cooking.com
http://www.cooking.com

Travelocity.com
http://www.travelocity.com

Williams-Sonoma
http://www.williams-sonoma.com

COMMUNITY:
BeliefNet
http://www.beliefnet.com

Burning Man
http://www.burningman.com

Idealist.org
http://www.idealist.org

Nerve.com
http://www.nerve.com

The Warren Ellis Forum
http://forums.delphiforums.com/ellis

EDUCATION:
eNature
http://www.enature.com

Exploratorium
http://www.exploratorium.org

JASON
http://www.jasonproject.org

MarcoPolo
http://marcopolo.worldcom.com

Students Against Testing
http://www.nomoretests.com

FASHION:
Hint Fashion Magazine
http://www.hintmag.com

Lumiere Magazine
http://www.lumiere.com

SoWear
http://www.sowear.com

STYLE.com
http://www.style.com

ZOOZOOM.com Magazine
http://www.zoozoom.com

FILM:
Donnie Darko
http://www.donniedarko.com

IFILM
http://www.ifilm.com

Metacritic
http://www.metacritic.com

Waking Life
http://www.wakinglifemovie.com

Without a Box
http://www.withoutabox.com

FINANCE:
10K Wizard
http://www.10kwizard.com

Financial Engines
http://www.financialengines.com

marketocracy
http://www.marketocracy.com

Yahoo! Finance
http://finance.yahoo.com

Yodlee
http://www.yodlee.com

GAMES:
Banja
http://www.banja.com

EA.com
http://www.ea.com

Gamasutra
http://www.gamasutra.com

Netbaby
http://www.netbabyworld.com

PopCap Games
http://www.popcap.com

GOVERNMENT and LAW:
Copyright Website
http://www.copyrightwebsite.com

Council on Foreign Relations
http://www.cfr.org

Library of Congress
http://lcweb.loc.gov

NASA
http://www.nasa.gov

U.S. Geological Survey
http://www.usgs.gov

HEALTH:
Breast Cancer Action
http://www.bcaction.org

drSpock.com
http://www.drspock.com

lifeclinic.com
http://www.lifeclinic.com

Planned Parenthood Golden Gate
http://www.ppgg.org

teenwire.com
http://www.teenwire.com

HUMOR:
Fuckedcompany.com
http://www.fuckedcompany.com

Heartless Bitches International
http://www.heartless-bitches.com

Legodeath - A Museum of Horrors
http://www.legodeath.com

SatireWire
http://www.satirewire.com

The Onion
http://www.theonion.com

KIDS:
Channel One
http://www.channelone.com

OLogy
http://www.ology.amnh.org

Pinhole Spy Camera
http://www.pinholespy.com

SFS Kids
http://www.sfskids.com

teenwire.com
http://www.teenwire.com

LIVING:
Do-It-Yourself Network.com
http://www.diynet.com

epicurious.com
http://www.epicurious.com

greenhome.com
http://www.greenhome.com

National Gardening
http://www.nationalgardening.com

Time Out New York
http://www.timeoutny.com

MUSIC:
all songs considered
http://www.npr.org/programs/asc

Freemuse
http://www.freemuse.org

Hearts of Space
http://www.hos.com

Live365
http://www.live365.com

LOOPLABS
http://www.looplabs.com

NEWS:
allAfrica.com
http://www.allafrica.com

Arts & Letters Daily
http://www.aldaily.com

BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news

Debkafile
http://www.debka.com

Poynter.org
http://www.poynter.org

PERSONAL SITE:
abnormalbehaviorchild
http://www.abnormalbehaviorchild.com

hungry for design
http://www.hungryfordesign.com

Jeff Harris
http://www.jeffharris.org/

PrayStation
http://www.praystation.com

The Committee to Free Lori Berenson
http://www.freelori.org

POLITICS:
California r Foundation
http://www.calr.org

Center for Responsive Politics
http://www.opensecrets.org

Political Money Line
http://www.fecinfo.com

The Hill
http://www.thehill.com

washingtonpost.com/OnPolitics
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/politics

PRINT and ZINES:
Mr. Beller's Neighborhood
http://www.mrbellersneighborhood.com

National Geographic Magazine
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm

ONTHERAIL
http://www.ontherail.com

Salon.com
http://www.salon.com

The Smoking Gun
http://www.thesmokinggun.com

RADIO:
BBC Radio 4 website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4

kpig.com
http://www.kpig.com

RTE Interactive Radio
http://www.rte.ie/radio

Transom
http://www.transom.org

Youth Radio
http://www.youthradio.org

SCIENCE:
Becoming Human
http://www.becominghuman.org

eFunda
http://www.efunda.com

Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics
http://mathworld.wolfram.com

NASA Earth Observatory
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov

SciTech Daily Review
http://www.scitechdaily.com

SERVICES:
Embark
http://www.embark.com

evite
http://www.evite.com

GoToMyPC
http://www.gotomypc.com

Ryze
http://www.ryze.com

TicketWeb
http://www.ticketweb.com

SPIRITUALITY:
BeliefNet
http://www.beliefnet.com

Glide Memorial Church
http://www.glide.org

GraceCathedral.org
http://www.GraceCathedral.org

Islamic Studies
http://www.arches.uga.edu/~godlas

Vatican
http://www.vatican.va

SPORTS:
2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com

Backpacker.com
http://www.backpacker.com

ESPN.com
http://www.espn.com

San Francisco 49ers
http://www.49ers.com

Surfline
http://www.surfline.com

TRAVEL:
IgoUgo
http://www.igougo.com

Lonely Planet Online
http://www.lonelyplanet.com

site59.com
http://www.site59.com

travel intelligence.net
http://www.travelintelligence.net

World Hum
http://www.worldhum.com

TELEVISION:
BBCi
http://www.bbc.co.uk

CSI:Crime Scene Investigation
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/main.shtml

E! Online
http://www.eonline.com

The Osbournes
http://www.mtv.com/onair/osbournes/

Who Wants to be a Millionaire
http://abc.abcnews.go.com/primetime/millionaire/millionaire_home.html

WEIRD:
All Your Base Are Belong To Us
http://www.planettribes.com/allyourbase/

Cut Off My Feet (Freck's New Feet)
http://www.cutoffmyfeet.com

Devices of Wonder
http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/devices

Mind Control Forum
http://heart7.net/mcf/

spamradio
http://www.spamradio.com/