The Golden Mouse Award of the year for dotcommers, innovators, pioneers and lodestars of Indian net space were awarded this evening. The event, attended by well known dot-com personalities, witnessed 11 awards being given away to the best portal, news, entertainment, travel, sports, B2B and other sites for their significant contribution in the Internet scene in India.

In all, 1,204 nominations were received, out of which 27 were short-listed for the awards, the first of their kind in India. The awards were divided into three categories. - Best Websites, Net Advertising and Internet Personality.

The Golden Mouse Award for the best portal of the year was bagged by Rediff for its superior content and presentation. It pipped Indiainfo.com, Indiatimes.com, Indya.com and SeniorIndian.com to the post. Brandquiver.com, beat Goodhealthnyou.com and musicurry.com to win the best newcomer site of the year award. VIndia.com won the best entertainment site of the year, while Indiainfoline.com walked away with the best site on finance. The awards were presented by eminent advertising professional and author, Mr Gurcharan Das, and Mr Michael Wescott of the Penton Media.

The other sites which won the awards, were - in the travel category, TravelJini.com beat Travelanza.com and itsKerala.com to win the award. Cricketnext.com, won the best sports site award, while TimesofIndia.com secured the best news site. Indiacar.com was adjudged the best B2B site. The judges which comprised an eminent panel of Indian and international jurors including John Sculley, Dr Mohanbir Sawhney, Dr Lai Kok Fung, Dewang Mehta and Gurcharan Das, decided on Ramaraj of Satyam, Amitabh Kumar of VSNL, Ajit Balakrishnan of Rediff.com and Rajesh Reddy of Unimobile, as the "Web Evangelists" or "Internet Personalities" of the year.

Indya.com search won the "Dhoondte Nahin Rahjaoge" for best banner advertising while Citibank was awarded the advertising award for sponsorship, on SitaGita.com.

Mr John Sculley who spoke earlier, said Indian websites had caught up with international standards and were poised for greater heights. He said India’s deep roots in spirituality and religion which fostered an ability to ponder on the abstract, when combined with its superior inventiveness to chart out new innovations.