The acceptance of applications for the "Runet Prize - 2008" has begun

On the site reg.premiaruneta.ru , the acceptance of applications for participation in the "Runet Prize - 2008" has begun.

This award was established in 2004, in the year of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Runet. Now she is celebrating her fifth anniversary. During this time, the competition has become one of the most important and discussed events in the life of the Russian “online hangout”.

The prize is now being awarded under state patronage: the founder is the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications. This fact distinguishes the Russian event from most foreign counterparts. Almost anywhere in the world, government services do not intervene in this way in the affairs of Internet business and Internet media, not to mention civil society.

From 2004 to 2007 more than 100 Russian and foreign organizations became laureates of the Runet Prize, including: Kommersant Publishing House, Microsoft, Intel, Rambler, Wikipedia, Mail.ru, RosBusinessConsulting, Kaspersky Lab, 1C-Bitrix, VGTRK, RIA-Novosti, Federation Council of the Federal Assembly Russia, RIA Novosti, Odnoklassniki, Soup Fabrik, Culture channel, CNews online edition, DELFI information portal in Latvia and Estonia, Softkey, Chronopay, and others.

Applications for the Runet Prize 2008 are accepted in six main categories:
1. State and society.
2. Culture and mass communication.
3. Science and education.
4. Economics and business.
5. Health and relaxation.
6. Technology and innovation.

Traditionally, in each nomination three equivalent figurines of the Runet Prize will be awarded, confirming the status of the laureate.

The innovation of 2008 will be a clear distribution of statuettes by type of laureates.
* The first figurine is an organization that has made a significant contribution to the development of the Runet.
* The second figurine - to the best Internet project (site) in the nomination.
* The third figurine is an organization or an Internet project from among the finalists (short list), according to the proposal of the partner organization of the nomination (one of the finalists or laureates of previous years), by decision of the Federal Expert Commission (FEC).

In addition to the statuettes in six main nominations, according to tradition this year statuettes in the following nominations will also be awarded:

* Runet outside the RU (special nomination).
* National treasure of the Russian Internet (personal award).
* People’s leader (winner of the All-Russian online campaign “People’s Voting”).

The Personal Runet National Award is awarded by a decision of the Board of Trustees of the Runet Prize. The Top Ten and the “People’s Leader” will be determined during the multi-stage All-Russian online campaign “People’s Vote”, the first stage of which starts in July 2008.

As in previous years, the winners of the Runet Award (more than 500 people) and the Runet Prize Expert Council (more than 100 people) will determine the winners in six main categories and in the special Runet Beyond RU special nomination. Voting will take place in two stages: in the first stage, the so-called shortlisted finalists; at the second stage, the winners in the nominations will be determined. All stages of voting will take place online on the Runet Prize website in the specialized section experts.premiaruneta.ru . The voting process is monitored by the Federal Expert Commission (FEC), which includes 24 members.