[JURIST] JURIST [FAQ] has won the Webby People's Voice Award [poll website; Webby Awards website] as the best Law website of 2006. Called the "online Oscars" by TIME magazine and presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences [profession website], the "Webbys" are the leading international awards honoring excellence in Web design, creativity, usability and functionality. Winners were announced in New York Tuesday morning.

To win the Webby People's Voice Award for Law, JURIST drew more votes from web users than fellow-finalists Court TV (the US legal television network), FindLaw, the Nolo legal self-help service, and Justice Learning, a New York Times-National Public Radio collaboration funded by the Annenberg Foundation. Justice Learning won the Webby judges competition. Webby People's Voice winners in other categories this year include BBC News (News), washingtonpost.com (Newspapers), the Library of Congress (Cultural Institutions), and the National Science Foundation website (Government).

Over 300,000 votes were cast for the 2006 Webby People's Voice Awards, up 50% from last year. An initially-unlikely contender due to its comparatively low public profile, JURIST took an early lead in the voting, overcame a challenge from FindLaw and then came back from a two percentage-point deficit against Court TV in the final days of polling to win.

This is the first time a law school website has won a Webby award. Headquartered at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law [law school website], JURIST is powered by a team of over 30 law student reporters, editors and web developers [staff list] led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts [profile] who devote their time and talent to the project, working with leading legal experts from around the world to provide up-to-the minute legal news, primary source research, and expert analysis as an educational service to the public and the legal community.

JURIST thanks its readers for their support!