The New Zealand Herald website won best news site at last night's NetGuide awards, while shopping website GrabOne was voted best overall site of the year.
Hosted by comedienne Urzila Carlson at Auckland's Hilton Hotel, the awards are decided by readers of NetGuide and New Zealand websites.
nzherald.co.nz was a finalist in four categories: best news site, best home page, best blog and best employment site.
It beat 3news.co.nz. stuff.co.nz, tvnz.co.nz and odt.co.nz in the news site category.
Herald associate editor and head of digital content Jeremy Rees said the win showed nzherald.co.nz was "doing a good job of keeping people informed on what matters".
"This year we have developed areas like data journalism, where we are well ahead of our competitors and concentrated on delivering news, first and best, on mobile platforms," he said.
GrabOne, owned by Herald publisher NZME., scooped the top prize after receiving the most votes. It also won the shopping site category.
"The backing of NZME. publishing and radio and the breadth of audience delivered to GrabOne has extended our audience diversity," GrabOne managing director Ryan Watkins said.
Cameron Slater's controversial blog site Whale Oil took out best blog for the second year in a row. The win follows his success at this year's Canon Media Awards, where Whale Oil won best blog after revelations of Auckland mayor Len Brown's affair were published on the site. Slater has since featured in Nicky Hager's Dirty Politics book.
The blogger made light of the situation last night, joking about his communications with John Key as he approached the stage. "I'm just texting John," he said.
"This was for all the readers, for all the support. And the haters can keep on hating because that's what drives me."
Air New Zealand's website took out the award for best travel site, while Facebook won best homepage. Seek won best employment site.
Givealittle won best online fundraising initiative.
The NetGuide awards are a people's choice awards with anyone able to vote for their favourite website.
NetGuide web awards 2014
Best overall site and best shopping site: GrabOne
Best news site: nzherald.co.nz
Best travel site: airnewzealand.co.nz
Best homepage: Facebook
Best blog: Whale Oil
Best mobile network and best ISP: Spark
Best financial site: asb.co.nz
Best online forum: geekzone.co.nz
Best web developer: zeald.com
