Anxious faces and the announcement of winners amidst a roll of drums aren’t just part of movie and music awards anymore. The internet has joined the league. Smashing doubts about the internet and e-commerce success in India are four companies that have been nominated for prestigious Internet World Asia Industry Awards (IWAIA) by Penton Media Asia Ltd. Doing Bangalore proud are Planetasia, Quizbrain.com and Indya.com headquartered here, with Satyam Infoway as the other nominee. The internet awards are hardly different from the real Oscars; there are 15 categories, wine flows as does the music and there’s a fashion show and five-course dinner to top it all. Only, instead of stars in slinky gowns and tuxedos, you’ll find smartly dressed executives and CEOs of some of the best internet and software companies in Asia.

The awards celebrate the fact that Asia has become the focal point for new opportunities, design shops and B2B players. "Being nominated for the awards is a big honour and it just goes to show that India has become a major player in technology. We are exposed to new international platforms and that helps to strengthen our present," says Samir Kumar, VP Marketing Planetasia. While categories range from Internet Visionary of the Year to Best B2B and B2C, Killer application of the year, Best design shop, Top investor to ISP of the year, Planetasia has been nominated for the best e-commerce solutions provider. "We have clients in the US, Middle East, Europe and India and we did two of Ariba’s Lighthouse projects— the first two in Asia Pacific which used extremely complex and lengthy work," adds Kumar. Planetasia also has India’s largest online music store mw4u.com. Indya.com has been nominated for the Best New Face of The Internet. With snazzy content and some good marketing, Indya.com is one in the new breed of Indian portals. Based in Bangalore, CEO Sunil Lulla says, "Being nominated for Asia’s internet Oscars means that our potential has been realised. The criteria was the company must have been established in the last 12 months and must possess a great product or service and an innovative business model."

The third to be nominated is Quizbrain.com, an affiliate vertical of Indiainfo.com. The impact Award for Charitable Contribution to the Net Community could mean education or development of IT in Asia. "Quizbrain has a lot of educational quizzes for the IT sector and we were the first to have a rural IT quiz. We are the first Indian quiz site to be nominated for these Oscars. It’s a great thrill because looking at our past, it makes me proud and happy to get Quizbrain on an international platform," says Giri Balasubramaniam, quizmaster, Quizbrain. Satyam has been nominated for the best ISP.