Web awards honour New Zealand's best online

8.00 pm

The Herald has again been judged New Zealand's best news website.

Leaders of New Zealand's internet industry gathered at the Hilton Hotel in Auckland this evening to salute the best of the net.

The 5th annual NetGuide magazine web awards recognised online excellence in 12 categories, as decided by a panel of five local and overseas experts.

The overall winner and Website of the Year, from among 1800 nominees, was www.telecom.co.nz.

Judges praised its "ease of access" and called it "a showcase example of why the web is such an important part of our future".

The NZ Herald website was named Best News Service from among 28 nominees. It is the third year in a row that nzherald.co.nz has won a NetGuide award.

The judges commented: "At the end of the day it is the freshness and accessibility of content that will usually make a news website a winner. The Herald site with its excellent freshness of stories and comprehensive news coverage had the slight edge over the rest of the field, and it was always easy to find items of interest."

The winners of the various categories were:

* Best e-tail site: www.auctioncity.co.nz

* Best corporate site: www.telecom.co.nz

* Best finance site: www.sorted.org.nz

* Best community site: www.ihc.org.nz

* Best news service: www.nzherald.co.nz

* Best youth site: www.urge.org.nz

* Best employment site: www.nzjobs.co.nz

* Best travel or tourism site: www.travel.co.nz

* Best music/entertainment site: www.mp3.net nz

* Best sports and recreation site: www.snow.co.nz

* Best web designer / web design firm: Shift, with work samples including www.purenz.com

* Best new website or relaunch: www.cuisine.co.nz

The Readers' Choice award for best internet service provider went to www.paradise.net.nz for the 3rd year in a row.