Web award for BBC News Online

The Webbys are the internet's most important awards event

Web users have voted BBC News Online as the best news service at the prestigious Webby internet awards.

It follows the site's triumph at last year's awards, when Webby judges voted it the winner in the news category.

The Webbys, as they are known, have become the most important internet awards since their birth in 1996.

Click here to see the full list of winners

Mike Smartt, BBC News Online's editor-in-chief, said he was delighted at the site's People's Voice Webby.

He said: "To be voted best by web users in such a remarkable year for news, on top of last year's judge's award, is doubly pleasing because they are the fiercest critics.

"It reflects outstanding work by the great team at BBC News Online."

The Webbys are given out in 31 categories by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

The categories cover topics as diverse as news, games, humour and spirituality.

They reward net innovation, hard work and the best that the web has to offer.

Winners this year came from a record 24 different countries.

Celebrations

Nasa won two awards winning in both the education and government categories.

Humour was won by Get Your War On, and the "weird" category was topped by British site Rathergood.

Rathergood features punk kittens on its site

Amazon won the commerce category, with Google winning news and Lonely Planet scooping travel.

As usual, the winners' acceptance speeches were limited to five words, which seemed to get the creative juices flowing.

Rathergood's was "thank God for little kittens" while Do-It-Yourself Networks accepted with the phrase: "Somewhere, a repairman gently weeps".

MoveOn.Org, which won in the politics category, said: "Won Webby, next beat Bush!", and ExploreMarsNow said: "Mars or bust. Preferably Mars".

The Flaming Lips, who won in the music category, managed to sneak in six words, saying: "First a Grammy, then a Webby."

BBC News Online's Smartt accepted the people's award with: "We'll meet again next year."

Finalists and fans from more than 80 countries and 900 US cities registered to join this year's ceremony online.

The awards are usually held in San Francisco, but moved online this year because many nominees were reluctant to fly over fears of terrorism and Sars.

An avatar representing Maya Draisin, the executive director of the academy, told the ceremony the decision to hold the ceremony in cyberspace was also in recognition of how "truly global" the web had become.

The majority of nominees for the awards are chosen by the 480 members of the academy which includes popstar David Bowie, net guru Vint Cerf and Simpsons creator Matt Groening.

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Webbys Awards - Full list of winners:

• Activism: ActforChange (judges' award); Greenpeace (people's voice award)
  
• Broadband: CBC Radio 3 (judges' award); CBC Radio 3 (people's voice award)
  
• Best Practices: Movable Type (judges' award); Wired News (people's voice award)
  
• Commerce: Amazon (judges' award and people's voice award)
  
• Community: Meetup (judges' award); Geocaching (people's voice award)
  
• Education: Nasa (judges' award and people's voice award)
  
• Fashion: Showstudio (judges' award); Style.com (people's voice award)
  
• Film: IndieWire (judges's award); Rotten Tomato (people's voice award)
  
• Finance: PayPal (judges' award and people's voice award)
  
• Games: Orisinal (judges' award); Sirve (people's voice award)
  
• Govt and law: Nasa (judges' award and people's voice award)
  
• Health: Planned Parenthood Golden Gate (judges' award); HIV Stops With Me (people's voice award)
  
• Humour: Get Your War On (judges' award); The Onion (people's voice award)
  
• Living: DIY Networks (judges' award and people's voice award)
  
• Music: Flaming Lips (judges' award and people's voice award)
  
• NetArt: Listening Post (judges' award); Penny Arcade (people's voice award)
  
• News: Google (judges' award); BBC News Online (people's voice award)
  
• Personal: Nobody There (judges' award); Cockeyed (people's voice award)
  
• Politics: MoveOn (judges' award);; The Note (people's voice)
  
• Print & Zines: AlterNet (judges' award); The onion (people's voice)
  
• Radio: Epitonic Radio (judges' award); CBC Radio 3 (people's voice award)
  
• Rising Star: Snapfish (judges' award only);
  
• Science: ExploreMarsNow (judges' award); HowStuffWorks (people's voice award)
  
• Services: eBay (judges' award and people's voice award)
  
• Spirituality: Pluralism Project (judges' award); Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (people's voice award)
  
• Sports: ESPN (judges' award and people's voice award)
  
• Technical Achievement: Apache Web Server (judges' award); Google (people's voice award)
  
• Travel: Lonely Planet (judges' award and people's voice award)
  
• TV: Nick.Com (judges' award); Cartoon Network (people's voice award)
  
• Weird: Rathergood (judges' award and people's voice award)
  
• Youth: 3D&i (judges' award); Disney's Toontown Online (people's voice award)