California Voter Foundation Nominated for
Webby, Smithsonian Awards

The California Voter Foundation (CVF) today announced that the organization has been nominated for two prestigious awards honoring excellent and innovative web sites. CVF's web site, www.calvoter.org, is a nominee for a 1999 Computerworld Smithsonian Award, and is one of five nominees for a 1999 Webby Award in the Politics and Law category.

Hailed as the "Oscars of the Internet," The Webby Awards are the leading creative honors for digital media. Nominees and winners are chosen by 220 judges from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Science, a global organization dedicated to the creative, technical, and professional progress of new media. Just a few of this year's judges include David Bowie, Esther Dyson, Francis Ford Coppola, Guy Kawasaki and Tina Brown. Other 1999 web site nominees include Amazon.com, The Motley Fool, The New York Times, Slate magazine, and PBS Online. In the Politics and Law category, CVF was nominated along with the Freedom Forum, the Center for Responsive Politics, Findlaw, and Web, White & Blue.

As a Webby nominee, CVF is also eligible to win The People's Voice Award, chosen by the public via the Internet. Internet users may cast their Webby votes by visiting http://www.webbyawards.com. The balloting process is being audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the winners will be announced at a gala awards show at San Francisco's Herbst Theatre on March 18. CVF's web site was also a Webby nominee in 1997, the first year of the Webby Awards.

CVF's web site was nominated for a 1999 Computerworld Smithsonian Award by Steve Case, Chairman and CEO of America Online, Inc. in the Government and Non-Profit Organizations category. Founded in 1989, the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards is a partnership between Computerworld newspaper and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. The program recognizes the achievements of those whose innovative work in information technology has produced positive social, economic and educational change.

A description of CVF's work will be included in the Smithsonian's Permanent Research Collection and will be made available on the Smithsonian's Innovation Network at http://innovate.si.edu in June. In April the Collection will be presented to the Smithsonian Institution and the award recipients will be announced June 7 at the annual gala event in Washington, D.C.

Kim Alexander, CVF's president and founder, said her organization was delighted to hear the news of the nominations. "Our staff and interns put a lot of love and hard work into our web site. We're proud to be nominated for these prestigious awards, and honored to have our work showcased alongside so many other excellent web sites."

The California Voter Foundation is a Sacramento-based non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to applying new technologies to provide the public with access to the information needed to participate in public life in a meaningful way. CVF's work is supported by foundations, corporations and individuals. All donations are tax-deductible. For more information, visit CVF on the web at http://www.calvoter.org.

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