And the Webby Award goes to...
photography by denmarsh
JURIST, the legal news and research service at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, is the winner of the 2006 Webby People’s Voice Award for best law Web site of 2006.
The “Webbys” have been called the “Oscars of the Internet” by the New York Times. Indeed, Webby finalists read like a “Who’s Who” of global icons and e-commerce gurus. Past Webby winners have included Amazon.com, eBay, FindLaw, CNN, BBC News, iTunes, Google, MSNBC, Comedy Central, and Yahoo!
The Webby Awards are a presentation of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, recognizing excellence in “Web design, creativity, usability, and functionality.”
With more than 65 different categories to choose from, winning websites range from such diverse areas as movie and film, to science, to law, and to television. This year’s Webby Awards saw a record number of entries across all categories, totaling 5,500 entries from all 50 states and over 40 countries around the world.
Once nominated, nominees are eligible to win either a Webby Award as voted upon by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences or for a People’s Voice Award, as determined by online votes by the general public.
JURIST’s win validates what JURIST fans worldwide have known all along—that JURIST is the place to turn for up-to-the-minute legal news and analysis of events shaping public policy nationally and internationally. From NSA surveillance to nuclear non-proliferation to terrorism law, JURIST provides legal news, analysis and commentary on issues that define our world. It offers real-time legal analysis and commentary by expert legal scholars, leading policymakers, and key practitioners from the U.S. and around the world.
Headquartered at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, JURIST is staffed by more than 30 Pitt Law students and managed by JURIST’s founder, publisher and editor-in-chief Pitt Law professor Bernard Hibbitts and JURIST Executive Director Jeannie Shawl.
Ten years since its founding—ironically, a 10-year anniversary shared by both JURIST and the Webby Awards—there has been a sea change in the way the world gathers legal information and exchanges legal ideas. JURIST stands as one of the pioneering architects of that change—helping to bring about a new interaction between the law and the Internet, forever changing the way we communicate.
So, on this 10-year anniversary, it is only fitting that JURIST should take a bow—not only as it takes its place among the roster of acclaimed Webby Award winners, but also for its pioneering contributions to legal discourse and understanding. 
