The Webby Awards, the Internet community's biggest annual event, has become a non-event this year.
Fears about traveling due to SARS were blamed for the cancellation of the seventh annual ceremony, which was scheduled for June 5 in San Francisco. Instead, the winners will be announced on the Internet.
"With our nominees now reflecting a truly global Web, we're facing new considerations, especially in light of everything that's going on in the world," Maya Draisin, executive director of Webby Awards sponsor The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, said in a release. "Presenting the awards in San Francisco without all of the nominees present is not true to the spirit of the Webbys, so we decided to bring the Webby Awards to them instead."
Nearly 90 percent of this year's nominees hail from outside the San Francisco Bay Area, including 24 Web sites from outside the United States, organizers said. Global travel has fallen sharply on fears of terrorism and the severe acute respiratory syndrome, which has killed more than 300 people worldwide.
How the awards will be unveiled has not been determined, but an announcement is expected in the next few weeks, organizers said.
News source: News.com
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