Ray Tomlinson receives Webby for Lifetime Achievement
A Quieter Webby Party
By EVELYN NIEVES
New York Times
Published: July 20, 2001
SAN FRANCISCO, July 19 — The fourth annual Webby Awards, honoring excellence and innovation on Internet sites, felt more like a bacchanal. Held in Nob Hill, one of the city's ritziest neighborhoods, the event, from the candlelit pre-party at the Grace Cathedral, to the post-party, under white tents at a scrupulously groomed park, was all wild costumes, slinky models, and food, wine and spirits every which way you looked.
But that was last year.
At the fifth annual Webby Awards, on Wednesday night, the mood, like the once-packed restaurants and bars in this city's once high-techie neighborhoods, was notably quieter.
With good reason: Since last year's Webby Awards, more than 500 Internet companies have gone out of business. One-fifth of last year's 135 nominees are out of business and more than half of the 71 Webby Award winners have gone under, been sold or had huge layoffs.
With thousands of dot-comers out of work, joining the Peace Corps, taking in roommates or moving back in with their parents, the Webbys, which chose winners from 150 nominees in 30 categories, was faced with some nominees that had already folded or that stood on the brink.
Much of the show, which for the second year was M.C.'d by Alan Cumming, the impish Scottish actor (who won a Tony award for his role in "Cabaret"), made light of the industry. Even the show's theme "Do You Still Believe?" poked fun at the reality check of the last year.
Tiffany Shlain, the founder and director of the Webbys and its nominating body, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, did seem to tire a bit of reporters' persistent questions about sagging Net fortunes. In the end, she said, a site's financial health is simply not important in judging its excellence.
"How many books that win Pulitzers are best sellers?" Ms. Shlain said. "How many shows that win Emmys still don't make it?"
While well-known sites like Travelocity.com ( news/quote ) and TheOnion.com won Webbys, so did pixyland.org /peterpan (this site, run by a man dressed like Peter Pan, won in the "weird" category) and craigslist .org, which was named best community site by both the academy and by more than 150,000 people who voted in the people's voice awards during a Webcast of the show. The Webbys also honored nonprofit sites like VolunteerMatch.org, for activism, and OpenSecrets.org, for politics. And while the mood was quieter than last year's and the celebrities fewer (the journalist Sam Donaldson and Julia Butterfly Hill, who sat in a redwood tree for two years, were the biggest non-Net presenters), this is not to say that the Webbys was not a big, merry party.
It was. The ceremony moved from last year's venue, the 2,000-seat Masonic Temple, to the 3,000-seat San Francisco War Memorial Opera House and was still packed. Pink wigs, peekaboo gowns and feather boas (the dress code on the invitation said "gutsy") were heavily represented, and spirits seemed high, even with the long lines to the bar and the empty trays on the appetizer tables.
The ceremony was fast-paced, largely due to the Webby rule limiting speeches to five words. (They included "Hi, Mom, I love you," and "The secret to happiness is. . .")
"Next to the Webbys, the Oscars, Emmys and other televised award shows feel like being sentenced to a week's detention with the class bore," said Scot Harris, a freelance Web page designer, as he sipped a martini from a plastic cup after the show.
Sarah Kempner, a student at the University of California at Berkley (whose boyfriend worked at pets.com until it folded earlier this year) said several people in the row she was sitting in were making a sport out of checking the Webby program for the most endangered Web site.
"It's kind of a gallows humor, I guess," Ms. Kempner said.
The show reserved its one earnest moment, biggest round of applause and sole standing ovation for the winners of the first Webby Lifetime Achievement Award, Ray Tomlinson and Douglas Englebart, two crucial contributors to the invention of e- mail.
Vint Cerf, a founder of the Internet, made the presentation on behalf of the sponsor of the award, WorldCom ( news/quote ), where he is a vice president. Afterward, Mr. Cerf said that all the dot-bomb talk was getting a little silly.
"Eighty percent of all start-ups fail — it's the same formula for all businesses," Mr. Cerf said. "This fantastic show proves that we ain't dead yet."
AN FRANCISCO, July 19 — The fourth annual Webby Awards, honoring excellence and innovation on Internet sites, felt more like a bacchanal. Held in Nob Hill, one of the city's ritziest neighborhoods, the event, from the candlelit pre-party at the Grace Cathedral, to the post-party, under white tents at a scrupulously groomed park, was all wild costumes, slinky models, and food, wine and spirits every which way you looked.
But that was last year.
At the fifth annual Webby Awards, on Wednesday night, the mood, like the once-packed restaurants and bars in this city's once high-techie neighborhoods, was notably quieter.
With good reason: Since last year's Webby Awards, more than 500 Internet companies have gone out of business. One-fifth of last year's 135 nominees are out of business and more than half of the 71 Webby Award winners have gone under, been sold or had huge layoffs.
With thousands of dot-comers out of work, joining the Peace Corps, taking in roommates or moving back in with their parents, the Webbys, which chose winners from 150 nominees in 30 categories, was faced with some nominees that had already folded or that stood on the brink.
Much of the show, which for the second year was M.C.'d by Alan Cumming, the impish Scottish actor (who won a Tony award for his role in "Cabaret"), made light of the industry. Even the show's theme "Do You Still Believe?" poked fun at the reality check of the last year.
Tiffany Shlain, the founder and director of the Webbys and its nominating body, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, did seem to tire a bit of reporters' persistent questions about sagging Net fortunes. In the end, she said, a site's financial health is simply not important in judging its excellence.
"How many books that win Pulitzers are best sellers?" Ms. Shlain said. "How many shows that win Emmys still don't make it?"
While well-known sites like Travelocity.com ( news/quote ) and TheOnion.com won Webbys, so did pixyland.org /peterpan (this site, run by a man dressed like Peter Pan, won in the "weird" category) and craigslist .org, which was named best community site by both the academy and by more than 150,000 people who voted in the people's voice awards during a Webcast of the show. The Webbys also honored nonprofit sites like VolunteerMatch.org, for activism, and OpenSecrets.org, for politics. And while the mood was quieter than last year's and the celebrities fewer (the journalist Sam Donaldson and Julia Butterfly Hill, who sat in a redwood tree for two years, were the biggest non-Net presenters), this is not to say that the Webbys was not a big, merry party.
It was. The ceremony moved from last year's venue, the 2,000-seat Masonic Temple, to the 3,000-seat San Francisco War Memorial Opera House and was still packed. Pink wigs, peekaboo gowns and feather boas (the dress code on the invitation said "gutsy") were heavily represented, and spirits seemed high, even with the long lines to the bar and the empty trays on the appetizer tables.
The ceremony was fast-paced, largely due to the Webby rule limiting speeches to five words. (They included "Hi, Mom, I love you," and "The secret to happiness is. . .")
"Next to the Webbys, the Oscars, Emmys and other televised award shows feel like being sentenced to a week's detention with the class bore," said Scot Harris, a freelance Web page designer, as he sipped a martini from a plastic cup after the show.
Sarah Kempner, a student at the University of California at Berkley (whose boyfriend worked at pets.com until it folded earlier this year) said several people in the row she was sitting in were making a sport out of checking the Webby program for the most endangered Web site.
"It's kind of a gallows humor, I guess," Ms. Kempner said.
The show reserved its one earnest moment, biggest round of applause and sole standing ovation for the winners of the first Webby Lifetime Achievement Award, Ray Tomlinson and Douglas Englebart, two crucial contributors to the invention of e- mail.
Vint Cerf, a founder of the Internet, made the presentation on behalf of the sponsor of the award, WorldCom ( news/quote ), where he is a vice president. Afterward, Mr. Cerf said that all the dot-bomb talk was getting a little silly.
"Eighty percent of all start-ups fail — it's the same formula for all businesses," Mr. Cerf said. "This fantastic show proves that we ain't dead yet."
By EVELYN NIEVES
New York Times
Published: July 20, 2001
SAN FRANCISCO, July 19 — The fourth annual Webby Awards, honoring excellence and innovation on Internet sites, felt more like a bacchanal. Held in Nob Hill, one of the city's ritziest neighborhoods, the event, from the candlelit pre-party at the Grace Cathedral, to the post-party, under white tents at a scrupulously groomed park, was all wild costumes, slinky models, and food, wine and spirits every which way you looked.
But that was last year.
At the fifth annual Webby Awards, on Wednesday night, the mood, like the once-packed restaurants and bars in this city's once high-techie neighborhoods, was notably quieter.
With good reason: Since last year's Webby Awards, more than 500 Internet companies have gone out of business. One-fifth of last year's 135 nominees are out of business and more than half of the 71 Webby Award winners have gone under, been sold or had huge layoffs.
With thousands of dot-comers out of work, joining the Peace Corps, taking in roommates or moving back in with their parents, the Webbys, which chose winners from 150 nominees in 30 categories, was faced with some nominees that had already folded or that stood on the brink.
Much of the show, which for the second year was M.C.'d by Alan Cumming, the impish Scottish actor (who won a Tony award for his role in "Cabaret"), made light of the industry. Even the show's theme "Do You Still Believe?" poked fun at the reality check of the last year.
Tiffany Shlain, the founder and director of the Webbys and its nominating body, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, did seem to tire a bit of reporters' persistent questions about sagging Net fortunes. In the end, she said, a site's financial health is simply not important in judging its excellence.
"How many books that win Pulitzers are best sellers?" Ms. Shlain said. "How many shows that win Emmys still don't make it?"
While well-known sites like Travelocity.com ( news/quote ) and TheOnion.com won Webbys, so did pixyland.org /peterpan (this site, run by a man dressed like Peter Pan, won in the "weird" category) and craigslist .org, which was named best community site by both the academy and by more than 150,000 people who voted in the people's voice awards during a Webcast of the show. The Webbys also honored nonprofit sites like VolunteerMatch.org, for activism, and OpenSecrets.org, for politics. And while the mood was quieter than last year's and the celebrities fewer (the journalist Sam Donaldson and Julia Butterfly Hill, who sat in a redwood tree for two years, were the biggest non-Net presenters), this is not to say that the Webbys was not a big, merry party.
It was. The ceremony moved from last year's venue, the 2,000-seat Masonic Temple, to the 3,000-seat San Francisco War Memorial Opera House and was still packed. Pink wigs, peekaboo gowns and feather boas (the dress code on the invitation said "gutsy") were heavily represented, and spirits seemed high, even with the long lines to the bar and the empty trays on the appetizer tables.
The ceremony was fast-paced, largely due to the Webby rule limiting speeches to five words. (They included "Hi, Mom, I love you," and "The secret to happiness is. . .")
"Next to the Webbys, the Oscars, Emmys and other televised award shows feel like being sentenced to a week's detention with the class bore," said Scot Harris, a freelance Web page designer, as he sipped a martini from a plastic cup after the show.
Sarah Kempner, a student at the University of California at Berkley (whose boyfriend worked at pets.com until it folded earlier this year) said several people in the row she was sitting in were making a sport out of checking the Webby program for the most endangered Web site.
"It's kind of a gallows humor, I guess," Ms. Kempner said.
The show reserved its one earnest moment, biggest round of applause and sole standing ovation for the winners of the first Webby Lifetime Achievement Award, Ray Tomlinson and Douglas Englebart, two crucial contributors to the invention of e- mail.
Vint Cerf, a founder of the Internet, made the presentation on behalf of the sponsor of the award, WorldCom ( news/quote ), where he is a vice president. Afterward, Mr. Cerf said that all the dot-bomb talk was getting a little silly.
"Eighty percent of all start-ups fail — it's the same formula for all businesses," Mr. Cerf said. "This fantastic show proves that we ain't dead yet."
AN FRANCISCO, July 19 — The fourth annual Webby Awards, honoring excellence and innovation on Internet sites, felt more like a bacchanal. Held in Nob Hill, one of the city's ritziest neighborhoods, the event, from the candlelit pre-party at the Grace Cathedral, to the post-party, under white tents at a scrupulously groomed park, was all wild costumes, slinky models, and food, wine and spirits every which way you looked.
But that was last year.
At the fifth annual Webby Awards, on Wednesday night, the mood, like the once-packed restaurants and bars in this city's once high-techie neighborhoods, was notably quieter.
With good reason: Since last year's Webby Awards, more than 500 Internet companies have gone out of business. One-fifth of last year's 135 nominees are out of business and more than half of the 71 Webby Award winners have gone under, been sold or had huge layoffs.
With thousands of dot-comers out of work, joining the Peace Corps, taking in roommates or moving back in with their parents, the Webbys, which chose winners from 150 nominees in 30 categories, was faced with some nominees that had already folded or that stood on the brink.
Much of the show, which for the second year was M.C.'d by Alan Cumming, the impish Scottish actor (who won a Tony award for his role in "Cabaret"), made light of the industry. Even the show's theme "Do You Still Believe?" poked fun at the reality check of the last year.
Tiffany Shlain, the founder and director of the Webbys and its nominating body, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, did seem to tire a bit of reporters' persistent questions about sagging Net fortunes. In the end, she said, a site's financial health is simply not important in judging its excellence.
"How many books that win Pulitzers are best sellers?" Ms. Shlain said. "How many shows that win Emmys still don't make it?"
While well-known sites like Travelocity.com ( news/quote ) and TheOnion.com won Webbys, so did pixyland.org /peterpan (this site, run by a man dressed like Peter Pan, won in the "weird" category) and craigslist .org, which was named best community site by both the academy and by more than 150,000 people who voted in the people's voice awards during a Webcast of the show. The Webbys also honored nonprofit sites like VolunteerMatch.org, for activism, and OpenSecrets.org, for politics. And while the mood was quieter than last year's and the celebrities fewer (the journalist Sam Donaldson and Julia Butterfly Hill, who sat in a redwood tree for two years, were the biggest non-Net presenters), this is not to say that the Webbys was not a big, merry party.
It was. The ceremony moved from last year's venue, the 2,000-seat Masonic Temple, to the 3,000-seat San Francisco War Memorial Opera House and was still packed. Pink wigs, peekaboo gowns and feather boas (the dress code on the invitation said "gutsy") were heavily represented, and spirits seemed high, even with the long lines to the bar and the empty trays on the appetizer tables.
The ceremony was fast-paced, largely due to the Webby rule limiting speeches to five words. (They included "Hi, Mom, I love you," and "The secret to happiness is. . .")
"Next to the Webbys, the Oscars, Emmys and other televised award shows feel like being sentenced to a week's detention with the class bore," said Scot Harris, a freelance Web page designer, as he sipped a martini from a plastic cup after the show.
Sarah Kempner, a student at the University of California at Berkley (whose boyfriend worked at pets.com until it folded earlier this year) said several people in the row she was sitting in were making a sport out of checking the Webby program for the most endangered Web site.
"It's kind of a gallows humor, I guess," Ms. Kempner said.
The show reserved its one earnest moment, biggest round of applause and sole standing ovation for the winners of the first Webby Lifetime Achievement Award, Ray Tomlinson and Douglas Englebart, two crucial contributors to the invention of e- mail.
Vint Cerf, a founder of the Internet, made the presentation on behalf of the sponsor of the award, WorldCom ( news/quote ), where he is a vice president. Afterward, Mr. Cerf said that all the dot-bomb talk was getting a little silly.
"Eighty percent of all start-ups fail — it's the same formula for all businesses," Mr. Cerf said. "This fantastic show proves that we ain't dead yet."
4/16/12 A Quieter Webby Party - The New York Times
1/4 www.nytimes.com/2001/07/20/technology/20WEBB.html?pagewanted=print
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July 20, 2001
A Quieter Webby Party
By EVELYN NIEVES
SAN FRANCISCO, July 19 — The fourth annual Webby Awards, honoring excellence and
innovation on Internet sites, felt more like a bacchanal. Held in Nob Hill, one of the city's ritziest
neighborhoods, the event, from the candlelit pre-party at the Grace Cathedral, to the post-party,
under white tents at a scrupulously groomed park, was all wild costumes, slinky models, and food,
wine and spirits every which way you looked.
But that was last year.
At the fifth annual Webby Awards, on Wednesday night, the mood, like the once-packed
restaurants and bars in this city's once high-techie neighborhoods, was notably quieter.
With good reason: Since last year's Webby Awards, more than 500 Internet companies have gone
out of business. One-fifth of last year's 135 nominees are out of business and more than half of the
71 Webby Award winners have gone under, been sold or had huge layoffs.
With thousands of dot-comers out of work, joining the Peace Corps, taking in roommates or
moving back in with their parents, the Webbys, which chose winners from 150 nominees in 30
categories, was faced with some nominees that had already folded or that stood on the brink.
Much of the show, which for the second year was M.C.'d by Alan Cumming, the impish Scottish
actor (who won a Tony award for his role in "Cabaret"), made light of the industry. Even the
show's theme "Do You Still Believe?" poked fun at the reality check of the last year.
Tiffany Shlain, the founder and director of the Webbys and its nominating body, the International
Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, did seem to tire a bit of reporters' persistent questions about
sagging Net fortunes. In the end, she said, a site's financial health is simply not important in
judging its excellence.
"How many books that win Pulitzers are best sellers?" Ms. Shlain said. "How many shows that
win Emmys still don't make it?"
While well-known sites like Travelocity.com ( news/quote ) and TheOnion.com won Webbys, so
did pixyland.org /peterpan (this site, run by a man dressed like Peter Pan, won in the "weird"
4/16/12 A Quieter Webby Party - The New York Times
2/4 www.nytimes.com/2001/07/20/technology/20WEBB.html?pagewanted=print
category) and craigslist .org, which was named best community site by both the academy and by
more than 150,000 people who voted in the people's voice awards during a Webcast of the show.
The Webbys also honored nonprofit sites like VolunteerMatch.org, for activism, and
OpenSecrets.org, for politics. And while the mood was quieter than last year's and the celebrities
fewer (the journalist Sam Donaldson and Julia Butterfly Hill, who sat in a redwood tree for two
years, were the biggest non-Net presenters), this is not to say that the Webbys was not a big,
merry party.
It was. The ceremony moved from last year's venue, the 2,000-seat Masonic Temple, to the
3,000-seat San Francisco War Memorial Opera House and was still packed. Pink wigs, peekaboo
gowns and feather boas (the dress code on the invitation said "gutsy") were heavily represented,
and spirits seemed high, even with the long lines to the bar and the empty trays on the appetizer
tables.
The ceremony was fast-paced, largely due to the Webby rule limiting speeches to five words. (They
included "Hi, Mom, I love you," and "The secret to happiness is. . .")
"Next to the Webbys, the Oscars, Emmys and other televised award shows feel like being
sentenced to a week's detention with the class bore," said Scot Harris, a freelance Web page
designer, as he sipped a martini from a plastic cup after the show.
Sarah Kempner, a student at the University of California at Berkley (whose boyfriend worked at
pets.com until it folded earlier this year) said several people in the row she was sitting in were
making a sport out of checking the Webby program for the most endangered Web site.
"It's kind of a gallows humor, I guess," Ms. Kempner said.
The show reserved its one earnest moment, biggest round of applause and sole standing ovation
for the winners of the first Webby Lifetime Achievement Award, Ray Tomlinson and Douglas
Englebart, two crucial contributors to the invention of e- mail.
Vint Cerf, a founder of the Internet, made the presentation on behalf of the sponsor of the award,
WorldCom ( news/quote ), where he is a vice president. Afterward, Mr. Cerf said that all the dot-bomb talk was getting a little silly.
"Eighty percent of all start-ups fail — it's the same formula for all businesses," Mr. Cerf said. "This
fantastic show proves that we ain't dead yet."
AN FRANCISCO, July 19 — The fourth annual Webby Awards, honoring excellence and
innovation on Internet sites, felt more like a bacchanal. Held in Nob Hill, one of the city's ritziest
neighborhoods, the event, from the candlelit pre-party at the Grace Cathedral, to the post-party,
under white tents at a scrupulously groomed park, was all wild costumes, slinky models, and food,
wine and spirits every which way you looked.
4/16/12 A Quieter Webby Party - The New York Times
3/4 www.nytimes.com/2001/07/20/technology/20WEBB.html?pagewanted=print
But that was last year.
At the fifth annual Webby Awards, on Wednesday night, the mood, like the once-packed
restaurants and bars in this city's once high-techie neighborhoods, was notably quieter.
With good reason: Since last year's Webby Awards, more than 500 Internet companies have gone
out of business. One-fifth of last year's 135 nominees are out of business and more than half of the
71 Webby Award winners have gone under, been sold or had huge layoffs.
With thousands of dot-comers out of work, joining the Peace Corps, taking in roommates or
moving back in with their parents, the Webbys, which chose winners from 150 nominees in 30
categories, was faced with some nominees that had already folded or that stood on the brink.
Much of the show, which for the second year was M.C.'d by Alan Cumming, the impish Scottish
actor (who won a Tony award for his role in "Cabaret"), made light of the industry. Even the
show's theme "Do You Still Believe?" poked fun at the reality check of the last year.
Tiffany Shlain, the founder and director of the Webbys and its nominating body, the International
Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, did seem to tire a bit of reporters' persistent questions about
sagging Net fortunes. In the end, she said, a site's financial health is simply not important in
judging its excellence.
"How many books that win Pulitzers are best sellers?" Ms. Shlain said. "How many shows that
win Emmys still don't make it?"
While well-known sites like Travelocity.com ( news/quote ) and TheOnion.com won Webbys, so
did pixyland.org /peterpan (this site, run by a man dressed like Peter Pan, won in the "weird"
category) and craigslist .org, which was named best community site by both the academy and by
more than 150,000 people who voted in the people's voice awards during a Webcast of the show.
The Webbys also honored nonprofit sites like VolunteerMatch.org, for activism, and
OpenSecrets.org, for politics. And while the mood was quieter than last year's and the celebrities
fewer (the journalist Sam Donaldson and Julia Butterfly Hill, who sat in a redwood tree for two
years, were the biggest non-Net presenters), this is not to say that the Webbys was not a big,
merry party.
It was. The ceremony moved from last year's venue, the 2,000-seat Masonic Temple, to the
3,000-seat San Francisco War Memorial Opera House and was still packed. Pink wigs, peekaboo
gowns and feather boas (the dress code on the invitation said "gutsy") were heavily represented,
and spirits seemed high, even with the long lines to the bar and the empty trays on the appetizer
tables.
The ceremony was fast-paced, largely due to the Webby rule limiting speeches to five words. (They
included "Hi, Mom, I love you," and "The secret to happiness is. . .")
4/16/12 A Quieter Webby Party - The New York Times
4/4 www.nytimes.com/2001/07/20/technology/20WEBB.html?pagewanted=print
"Next to the Webbys, the Oscars, Emmys and other televised award shows feel like being
sentenced to a week's detention with the class bore," said Scot Harris, a freelance Web page
designer, as he sipped a martini from a plastic cup after the show.
Sarah Kempner, a student at the University of California at Berkley (whose boyfriend worked at
pets.com until it folded earlier this year) said several people in the row she was sitting in were
making a sport out of checking the Webby program for the most endangered Web site.
"It's kind of a gallows humor, I guess," Ms. Kempner said.
The show reserved its one earnest moment, biggest round of applause and sole standing ovation
for the winners of the first Webby Lifetime Achievement Award, Ray Tomlinson and Douglas
Englebart, two crucial contributors to the invention of e- mail.
Vint Cerf, a founder of the Internet, made the presentation on behalf of the sponsor of the award,
WorldCom ( news/quote ), where he is a vice president. Afterward, Mr. Cerf said that all the dot-bomb talk was getting a little silly.
"Eighty percent of all start-ups fail — it's the same formula for all businesses," Mr. Cerf said. "This
fantastic show proves that we ain't dead yet."
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