Webby Awards to Be Held Online

<br>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ The Webby Awards, once hailed as the Oscars of the Internet, are being scaled down. This year's bash will be held online. <br><br>Nominees apparently expressed concerns about

Monday, April 28th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ The Webby Awards, once hailed as the Oscars of the Internet, are being scaled down. This year's bash will be held online.

Nominees apparently expressed concerns about traveling to San Francisco for the planned June ceremony _ once a glitzy, celebrity studded extravaganza.

``With our nominees now reflecting a truly global Web we're facing new considerations, especially in light of everything that's going on in the world right now,'' said Maya Draisin, executive director of The Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which organizes the awards. ``This is a challenging time for people in any business at this point.''

The awards honor the best of the Internet, and during dot-com boom years the ceremony's pomp testified to the irreverence and creativity of the online community.

Since Webbys were first handed out in 1996, however, hundreds of Web sites have shut down, many of them past winners.