Hollywoodreporter.com was selected as a finalist in the competition's Best Web Site category by a distinguished panel of judges chaired by Marshall Loeb, columnist for CBS MarketWatch and former editor of the Columbia Journalism Review. A total of 967 entries were received.

"Hollywoodreporter.com is the premier online source for timely entertainment business news. The site is available to everyone and it's complete, fast and easy to access. There are no barriers to entry for all of the free content we post. Users are just a click away from where they want to go," said Robert J. Dowling, editor-in-chief and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter. "From our offices around the globe, we continually file stories to Hollywoodreporter.com, making it a true news-gathering medium, not just a re- purpose of our print edition."

The Hollywood Reporter became the industry's first online delivery of entertainment news with the launch of its Web site in 1995, along with the first to create an e-mail edition to deliver breaking news items directly to users' computers. Hollywoodreporter.com is audited by Neilsen Net Ratings, which reports the site averages 175,000 unique users per month. VNU eMedia reports that more than two million page views are totaled per month (December 2001).

"The cliche is it's an honor to be nominated, but in the case of the Neal Awards it's true. They are quite selective -- you have to have the goods to become a finalist," said Glenn Abel, The Hollywood Reporter's Executive Editor, Electronic. "I think the nomination comes in recognition of our site's evolution into a business tool in addition to our news focus, plus our concept of providing news updates around the clock from bureaus around the world. No other entertainment trade does that."

Hollywoodreporter.com delivers daily breaking news stories, feature-length articles and coverage of all major festivals, markets and events such as the upcoming Academy Awards. The site contains Web-only content including Martin Grove's "Filmmaker Focus" column that profiles such notable Hollywood players as Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael Bay and Lauren Shuler Donner.

Top news-gathering and publishing organization The Hollywood Reporter serves the global entertainment industry with five editions: Daily (M-F), Weekly International, Online, E-Mail and THR-East. The Hollywood Reporter is published by VNU Business Publications USA. Netherlands-based VNU is the world's largest organization of entertainment-related publications and services.

Founded in 1906, American Business Media is the industry association for global information providers that produce magazines, newsletters, CD-ROMs, Web sites, trade shows and other media reaching an audience of more than 47 million professionals and generating over $16 billion in advertising revenues in 2001.