BBC News Online is one of the nominees, battling it out with CNN.com and Electronic Telegraph in the News And Magazines Category.

The awards are designed to recognise the growing importance of CD-Roms and the Internet in the entertainment industry.

They will be handed out at a London ceremony hosted by Stephen Fry on October 29.

The academy, best known for promoting excellence in British film and television, has recently changed its membership criteria to allow the new media industry into its ranks.

It is only the second time the rules have been changed - the first was in 1958 to allow the television industry into the academy.

"We feel there will be a convergence between the traditional media and interactive media, especially now as digital TV is starting up.

"Computer games and websites are becoming increasingly important," said Bafta spokesman Dan Boothby.

The judging panel includes games designer Pete Molyneux, multimedia experts Fionnula Duggan and Frank Boyd, and British Board of Film Classification president Andreas Whittam Smith.

Other nominees include Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic for Best Comedy and Interactive Treatment, N64 game GoldenEye 007 for Best Game, and the Live & Kicking Show Maker CD-Rom in the Children's category.

The full list of nominations is:

Comedy

Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic (Simon & Schuster/ Digital Village CD-Rom))

MindGym (Marshall Media CD-Rom)

You Don't Know Jack (BMG Interactive CD-Rom)

News & Magazines

BBC News Online

CNN.com

Electronic Telegraph

Factual

The CD-Rom Guide To All The Birds of Europe (BirdGuides)

RedShift 3 (DK Interactive Learning CD-Rom)

Roche - HIV.com/Lifecycle (F Hoffmann-La Roche, designer Spooky and the Bandit)

Games

GoldenEye 007 (Nintendo N64 game)

Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus (GT Interactive Software PSX/PC game)

V2000 (Grolier Interactive PSX/PC game)

Children's

Live & Kicking Show Maker (BBC CD-Rom)

My Amazing Human Body (Dorling Kindersley Interactive Learning CD-Rom)

Star Wars DroidWorks (Lucas Learning CD-Rom)

Learning

D-Code (Health Education Authority CD-Rom)

Lifting The Weight (Jubilee Arts CD-Rom)

Oscar The Balloonist Discovers The Farm (Tivola Electronic Publishing CD-Rom)

Moving Images

Ceremony of Innocence (Real World MultiMedia CD-Rom)

Oceans of Innovation (Foreign Office CD-Rom)

Riven - The Sequel to Myst (Red Orb Entertainment CD-Rom)

Sound

Ceremony of Innocence (Real World MultiMedia CD-Rom)

Riven - The Sequel to Myst (Red Orb Entertainment CD-Rom)

You Don't Know Jack (BMG Interactive CD-Rom)

Interactive Treatment

Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic (Simon & Schuster/ The Digital Village CD-Rom)

Microsoft ActiMates Interactive Barney (Microsoft PC game and interactive toy)

StageStruck (National Institute of Dramatic Art CD-Rom)

Design

hq3.net (web site)

Riven - The Sequel to Myst (Red Orb Entertainment CD-Rom)

ShiftControl (AudioRom enhanced CD)

Programming

Gran Turismo (SCEE PSX game)

Motorhead (Gremlin Interactive CD-Rom)

Unreal (GT Interactive CD-Rom)

Best UK Developer

Best Personal Contribution by a British Individual