Webbys for NY Times, Boston Globe, Guardian, BBC

The Economist, National Public Radio (NPR) and The Huffington Post were also among the media outlets whose online efforts were rewarded by the 600-member International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

NYTimes.com picked up Webbys for best writing and best practices but gave up the title it won last year as best newspaper website to the Guardian, which won for the fourth time in five years.

The Guardian also won Webbys for best podcasts and another in the religion and spirituality category.

The Boston Globe, which is facing a shutdown threat by its owner, The New York Times Co., won a Webby Award for best use of photography.

The BBC won Webbys for best news site and in the lifestyle category for its climate change site Bloom.

The Huffington Post picked up a Webby in the politics category while The Atlantic won for best magazine website.

The Economist's Democracy in America blog won for best political blog.

NPR earned Webbys for best radio site and for music.

Other winners included the Yahoo!-owned photo-sharing site Flickr, which won the online community award, Mint.com for financial services and Digg for social networking.

The Onion won in the humor category and ESPN for sports.

The New York Times, Guardian, BBC and NPR also won People's Voice awards in several categories. The People's Voice awards are decided through an online vote by the public.

The academy also handed out special achievement awards, naming singer Trent Reznor "Webby Artist of the Year" for making his album, The Slip, available for free download on his website.

Comedian Jimmy Fallon was named "Webby Person of the Year" "in recognition of his enthusiastic embrace of the Internet to connect with his fans."

Hot micro-blogging service Twitter was named "Breakout of the Year" while comedian Sarah Silverman was named "Best Actress" for her YouTube hits "I'm F**king Matt Damon," and "The Great Schlep."

Former Friends star Lisa Kudrow was given a Webby for "Outstanding Comedic Performance" for her show "Web Therapy" on lstudio.com in which she plays a therapist who treats her patients via three-minute Webcam sessions.

Seth McFarlane was named "Film and Video Person of the Year" for his animated videos on sethcomedy.com.

The 13th annual Webby Awards are to be handed out at a gala in New York on June 8.

(c) 2009 AFP