Two Penn websites are in the running for what The New York Times has called the “Internet’s highest honor.”
Both FactCheck.org, which is run by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s website are competing for the Webby Awards, which honor “the best of the web,” according to its website.
This year, FactCheck.org is competing in the “Politics” category against sites like Politico. Penn Law’s website has been nominated in the “Law” category. Although FactCheck.org has won every year since 2007 except for 2009, this is the Law School website’s first nomination.
Christine Droesser, director of web services for Penn Law Information Technology Services, called this news “very exciting.”
Penn Law’s website was relaunched last July in order to increase its appeal, Penn Law Associate Dean of Communications Steven Barnes said.
Some of the new features of the site include an improved ability to share updates and news across different pages and a homepage pipeline, which contains links to articles and lists upcoming events.
Both Barnes and Droesser agreed that the pipeline was one of the highlights of the new site.
“It shows off all of our strengths in real time,” Barnes said.
Droesser explained that the hashtags that categorize each item on the pipeline make it easier to integrate pages across the site.
FactCheck.org, which was founded in 2003, aims to “increase public knowledge and understanding” by monitoring the factual accuracy in American politics. Some of the site’s features include Ask FactCheck — an online forum where people receive answers to their questions from FactCheck — and Viral Spiral, which addresses the truthfulness of widespread Internet rumors.
“The point of our website is to reduce the level of deception in political communication,” Director of FactCheck Eugene Kiley said. “[We] take what [politicians] say and check what they’re saying is true.”
He added, “It is nice to be recognized for the work that we do.”
The award nominees were announced on April 9. Over 11,000 entries from 65 countries were submitted, and only 7 percent of all entries — five from each category — made it to nominee status.
The Webby Awards, which began in 1996, give out two types of awards each year — the Webby Winners and the Webby People’s Voice Award Winners.
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences choose the Webby Winners while voters registered with Webby choose the recipient of the People’s Voice Award.
The awards are now in the People’s Voice Awards voting period, which lasts until April 25. The winners will be announced on April 30. An awards ceremony will follow on May 21.
“Every year we are constantly amazed by the innovations Webby Nominees push forward and this year is no exception,” Executive Director of The Webby Awards David-Michel Davies said in a statement. “This year’s nominees reflect a new personal and pervasive Internet where friends and people we trust are our curators and mobile devices stretch the network into the most discreet places in our lives.”
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