NII Awards

The NII Awards was an awards program designed to recognize excellence and innovation in use of the Internet. The National Information Infrastructure Awards, later known as the Global Information Infrastructure (GII) Awards were given from 1995 though 1999.
History.
The NII Awards were created in 1995 by Access Media Inc. (based in Santa Monica, California), with James Hake as Chairman. By 1999 Melanie McMullen was General Manager of the GII Awards.
The Awards were supported by more than 70 corporate, media, government and public sponsors. Businesses, community organizations, government agencies and individuals were all eligible to submit entries to the competition. Winners of the GII Awards include Yahoo!, The Schwab WebSite/Charles Schwab & Co., ThinkQuest and The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition. 
In 1996 Vice President Al Gore was quoted in a press release: "The winners of the NII Awards represent real-life benefits delivered through the NII and give us an encouraging look at what is possible in the future. These examples help all Americans understand the promise and potential of the information superhighway."
First annual awards (1995).
The 1995 NII Awards attracted more than 550 entries and 180 judges.
Entries were submitted from February to May, and the winners were announced on July 12, 1995. The Awards were presented in Washington, D.C. at a dinner emceed by talk show personality Dick Cavett.
Second annual awards (1996).
The 1996 NII Awards attracted more than 850 entries and 200 judges. From 60 finalists, the winners' Awards were presented on December 3, 1996 in New York City at the Hilton Towers http://ic.media.mit.edu/projects/JBW/NIIPressRelease.html
Third annual awards (1997/98).
By 1997 the name was changed to Global Information Infrastructure (GII) Award, although entries were required to be in English, and based principally in the United States.
The deadline for entries was originally July 7 - August 27, 1997, but was extended to November 24, 1997. From over 800 entries from 41 states, an average of 31 semi-finalists advanced in each of the eleven categories, with 68 entries announced as Finalists on March 6, 1998. Recipients of the 1997 GII Awards were expected be announced at the annual GII Awards Ceremony scheduled for December 2, or in the spring of 1998, in New York City.
In fact, winners presentations were held during the Comdex show in Chicago, on April 20, 1998 in the Grand Ballroom at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, emceeed by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.
Fourth annual awards (1999).
More than 500 total entries were received, from which 60 finalists were selected by a panel of 350 judges. 
The 1999 Awards were presented at the St. Francis Hotel on December 14, 1999, emceed by comedian Paula Poundstone, in conjunction with Ziff Davis Internet Studios Nextravaganza conference.
Demise.
Although there was an announcement of a fifth set of awards for the year 2000, they were postponed after being spun out from ZD Events to Key3Media.
By 2002 the domain name formerly used by the awards was purchased by Global Insight.