The UN World Summit Awards are an international competition created in 2003 to highlight the most innovative digital content being created around the world. The awards coincide with the 2005 UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), an international UN summit that will take place in Tunisia this November. More than 150 countries around the world are expected to nominate digital content in a variety of categories, such as e-government, e-education and e-entertainment, to compete among each other for the international award, to be announced later this fall.

Andy Carvin, coordinator of the US competition, worked with a team of about a dozen judges from around the country, soliciting nominations from around the Internet, then reaching their decisions for US finalists in eight different categories. After reviewing numerous nominations in the e-inclusion category -- the UN's term for initiatives that are helping bridge the digital divide, utilizing the Internet to empower the public, etc. -- the judges whittled down the list to a single US finalist:

Ourmedia.

(The list of US finalists isn't posted yet, by the way.)

Congratulations, everyone. Woo hoo! This is simply amazing. We're only 3 1/2 months old -- and already being recognized on the international stage.