BBC scoops three Webby awards

Winners will be honoured at a ceremony in New York

The BBC has been honoured with three prizes at the annual Webby Awards.

Now in its eleventh year, the awards are chosen by the public and a panel of international web experts to recognise excellence in a range of categories.

The BBC News website won both news awards for the third year running, while BBC Radio 1 won the radio trophy.

Other winners included YouTube founders Steve Chen and Chad Hurley and online actress Jessica Lee Rose, better known to web video viewers as Lonelygirl 15.

The winners were chosen from nearly 8,000 entries from 60 different countries.

People's choice

There are more than 100 categories with two awards in each.

Members of The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, including internet pioneer Vint Cerf, Simpsons' creator Matt Groening and musician Beck, picked the winners.

To win both the Webby and the People's Choice awards again this year is a huge honour for us Steve Herrmann, Editor, BBC News Interactive

The People's Choice Awards in each category were voted for by members of the public.

In this year's awards, the BBC received the most nominations of any organisation.

The BBC News website won both awards in the news category - repeating the last two year's success.

"To win both the Webby and the People's Choice awards again this year is a huge honour for us," said BBC News Interactive Editor Steve Herrmann.

"It is a tribute to the range and quality of the BBC's journalism, and to the creativity and ingenuity of our journalists, developers and designers in bringing this to our online audiences in the best possible way."

Other winners included photo-sharing website Flickr which won the Community and Best Practices awards. Artist Jonathan Yuen won categories for Best Visual Design and Best Use of Animation, while musician David Bowie scooped a Lifetime Achievement award.

Jessica Lee Rose, known on YouTube as Lonelygirl 15, won the best actress awards.

Her video blogs, posted to the popular video sharing site, appeared to chart the troubled life of a teenage girl called Bree. Viewers eventually discovered the videos were a hoax made by the New Zealand actress.

All of the winners will be honoured at a ceremony in New York on 5 June where they are limited to a five-word acceptance speech.