Pitt's JURIST Web site Nominated for 2006 Webby Award

PITTSBURGH-The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences has nominated JURIST (jurist.law.pitt.edu), the University of Pittsburgh's legal news and research service, as one of five finalists in the Law category for the 2006 Webby Awards (www.webbyawards.com) honoring excellence in Web design, creativity, usability, and functionality. The other Web nominees in Law are CourtTV; FindLaw; Justice Learning, an NPR-New York Times collaboration; and Nolo, a legal self-help site.

JURIST is powered by a team of more than 30 part-time and mostly volunteer law student reporters, editors, and Web developers led by University of Pittsburgh law professor Bernard Hibbitts, and is the only law school-based legal news service. Its staffers review and document law in real time as a public service in furtherance of their education, and have written and researched more than 15,000 news stories in the past three years alone. JURIST also publishes original commentary on legal issues by leading law professors and senior policymakers from the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. Regularly accessed around the clock 365 days a year, it's currently read by more than 250,000 people per month from more than 70 countries. Thanks to the latest blog and RSS technologies, JURIST's legal news also runs on the Web sites and intranets of 90 other law schools, major law firms, federal appeals courts, and bar associations and is frequently featured on Google News, sometimes as that service's top story.

Called "the online equivalent of an Oscar" by The New York Times, the Webby was established in 1996 and is the leading international award of its type. The 10th Annual Webby Awards received more than 5,500 entries from all 50 states and more than 40 countries. The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences is a 500-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries, and creative celebrities that includes Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, political columnist Arianna Huffington, Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Smart Mobs author Howard Rheingold, and Oracle chair Larry Ellison. Members also include writers and editors from publications such as The New York Times, Wired, and The Los Angeles Times. Winners in all categories will be announced May 9, with a gala award ceremony to follow in New York City June 12.

In addition to the judged Webby competition, The Webby People's Voice Award gives Web users the opportunity to vote for their favorite Webby nominee. Through May 5, fans can vote for JURIST at http://peoplesvoice.webbyawards.com or at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu by clicking on the "Vote for JURIST" link in the top red banner beneath the Webby logo.

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4/21/06/tmw