NZ sites climbing up ratings for internet awards

Two New Zealand websites are closing in on their big-name rivals in the publicly-voted People's Voice section of the annual Webby Awards.

The Webbys, the internet's version of the Oscars, will be handed out at a ceremony in San Francisco on June 18.

Denis Dutton's influential Arts and Letters Daily site jumped from 5 per cent to 23 per cent in just three days after he announced its Webby nomination to his readers.

The vote rocketed it past the BBC, and is only two points behind the current leader in the news category, Debkafile.

Meanwhile, SciTechDaily.com has climbed against the United States space agency Nasa, passing 29 per cent and pulling NASA's vote down to below 50 per cent over the weekend.

With only 11 days to go before public voting ends on June 7, SciTechDaily.com managing editor Vicki Hyde is predicting a close race.

"We are small compared with Nasa and it's hard to believe we are narrowing in on them. We have 70,000 hits a month, theirs is probably in the millions," Ms Hyde told NZPA.

"While we moved from 11 per cent to 29 per cent, Nasa fell from 61 per cent of the vote to 49 per cent."

The New Zealand on-line community is also right behind the SciTechDaily.com's campaign for more votes.

Major local search engine, SearchNZ and its affiliated sites have pledged one million banners to spread the word.

SciTechDaily.com is one of five final nominations in the science category.

The main awards are decided by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

It is the first time any New Zealand sites have been nominees in the six years of the awards.

"We're going to have a great party at the awards ceremony in San Francisco regardless of whether we win a Webby or not," Ms Hyde said.

"Being judged one of the top five science websites in the world by the International Academy is good enough... almost."

- NZPA