An opportunity for companies to win prestigious awards for international business web sites

After the success of last year's competition, it is now time to start registering your entries for the 1999 Financial Times International Business Web Site Awards.

An expanded competition will again be sponsored by UUNET, which will be joined this year by PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the world's leading management consultants.

These increasingly prestigious awards were launched two years ago to recognise companies in various market sectors that have used the power of the internet to achieve significant commercial advantage. But with the increasing importance of the internet to business, the time was right to introduce a new and more incisive element by inviting PricewaterhouseCoopers management consultants to jointly sponsor the event.

This year, the awards have been improved to highlight the continued growth in e-business and web activity internationally.

UUNET, an MCI WorldCom company and a global leader in internet communications, continues its commitment to the competition by sponsoring the event for a third successive year.

"Over the past two years, we have seen the standard and number of entries increase dramatically.

"This year, we anticipate an even higher standard as the nature and benefits of e-business become more fully understood by businesses in all sectors of industry," says Joe Clift, UUNET's UK marketing director. "We are also delighted to welcome PricewaterhouseCoopers who will bring a new dimension to what we believe will become the leading business internet award scheme internationally."

Patrick King, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting Services, comments: "Businesses must realise that globally, we are about to under go massive and disruptive change.

"And yet what continues to surprise us at PricewaterhouseCoopers is that if you draw a conclusion from the levels of e-business activity across Europe, you would have to infer that nobody has seen this change coming.

"This is crazy - it is like expecting red flags in front of oncoming cars.

"Although the 'e' prefix in e-business will dissolve - after all it's just IT and the value chain - the transition will completely reshape the business landscape.

"PricewaterhouseCoopers want to encourage individuals and organisations to embrace change and stay ahead of their competition.

"We are delighted to be part of the FT's International Web Awards because it gives us the opportunity to highlight and commend the achievers, as well as to encourage others to follow in the path of the few."

Categories

The 1999 Financial Times International Business Website of the Year awards will be presented to winners in each of the following five categories:

Best Large Organisation (excluding financial sector): The 1998 winner was Dell Europe.
Best Financial Services Site: The 1998 joint winners - GNI Ltd and the Co-Operative Bank.
Best Public Sector Site: Last year's winner was BBC News Online.
Best Small-To-Medium Enterprise Site: The 1998 winner was PhotoDisc Europe.
This year, we are introducing a new category: Business Web Site of the Decade - which will be voted for by FT readers.

How to enter

Entries will close in July. Details of how to enter can be found by visiting the web site: www.businesswebawards.com.

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