Features

SAN FRANCISCO – The Internet economy is nursing a hangover, but the industry intends to party on this week at the Webby Awards — the dot-com version of the Oscars. 

A sense of melancholy hangs over the 5th annual bash — an off-the-wall ceremony that started at a small nightclub in 1996 and evolved into a glitzy extravaganza that showcases the Internet community’s innovation, irreverence, hucksterism and hubris. 

The organizers of the awards show Wednesday are trying hard to keep the spotlight on the achievements of the 150 nominees in 30 categories, but all the dead and decaying Web sites that have stacked up in the past year make it tough to ignore the odor of failure permeating the industry. 

“It’s certainly a bittersweet thing,” said entrepreneur Marc Hedlund, whose nominated Web site, Popularpower.com, failed four months ago. “Winning the award would be an honor, but I’m sure I will be thinking about what might have been.” 

Since the Webbys handed out their last awards 14 months ago near the height of the dot-com boom, 534 Web sites have shut down, according to Webmergers.com, which tracks the industry’s ups and downs. To make things even more macabre, 52 of the failed sites were based in the Webbys’ hometown of San Francisco. 

The list of casualties includes at least 25 of the 135 nominees from last year’s Webbys. Another jarring reminder of how much has changed since the last Webbys came earlier this month with the failure of Webvan.com, a nominee for the “services” award in 2000, and the shutdown of Napster.com, the winner of last year’s music award. 

“It sort of makes you wonder if the qualifying criteria for getting nominated this year was just being alive,” said San Francisco resident Brian McConnell, a telecommunications engineer who has never been a Webby fan, even when times were good. 

Popularpower.com’s demise notwithstanding, most of this year’s nominees are alive. Not all are doing well. Salon.com, Marketwatch.com, The Motley Fool, Sonicnet.com and Chickclick.com are just a few of the more well-known nominees that have had to fire workers this year to ward off extinction. 

Webbys founder Tiffany Shlain says the finances of the nominees are immaterial, just like other awards shows celebrating the arts. 

“There have been TV shows that have been canceled that have won Emmys and movies that haven’t done well at the box office that have won Oscars,” Shlain said. “Things got a little out of control during the last two years, but what we have always been trying to do is say ’Good job!’ in a fun, creative way.” 

Despite the dot-com downturn, many nominees still feel like celebrating this week. Google.com co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who rollerskated to the stage last year to pick up an award for technical innovation, “are as excited about this year’s awards as they were last year,” said Google spokeswoman Cindy McCaffrey. “It’s quite an honor.” 

Google, one of the Web’s most popular search engines, is nominated for a new all-around award, called “best practices,” this year. 

Like many hard-core engineers around the Silicon Valley, McConnell doubts the Webby’s judges, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, are particularly interested in technical innovation. 

“It always seemed like the Webbys was more about awarding what looked pretty and seemed cool instead of trying to find things truly on the cutting edge,” he said. 

The Webbys judges include rock star David Bowie, movie director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Gillian Anderson who all seem better suited to vote on the Grammys, Oscars and Emmys than the Webbys. 

The Webbys never looked more like a marketing vehicle than last year, when the event became a stage for zany stunts. Wiredplanet.com’s representatives wore space suits to last year’s ceremonies while the CEO of Intellihealth.com staged a traffic accident to draw attention to the site. 

Shlain believes this year’s awards will be more in step with the austere times, noting that the dress code for the ceremony is “gutsy.” 

The dot-com comedown still hasn’t touched the Webbys, which is bigger than ever. There are so many nominees this year that the awards will be distributed over two nights. 

After 10 categories will be recognized at a San Francisco restaurant Tuesday, the main event will be held Wednesday at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, where a sold-out crowd of 3,000 is anticipated. About 400 tickets, ranging in price from $90 to $150, are being sold to the general public, marking the first time that industry outsiders have been allowed to attend the show. 

New York Web site developer Philip Kaplan is traveling from New York to find out whether he will win an award in the humor category. His site, which has a profane domain name, has become hugely popular for its acerbic commentary about failing dot-coms. 

Like many others in the industry, Kaplan has mixed emotions about this year’s Webbys, but for different reasons than most entrepreneurs. 

“My business is going great, but I seriously think I got nominated in the wrong category,” Kaplan said. “With everything that has happened in the past year, I’m pretty sure I could have won the news category.”