They may not spark the same kind of buzz and speculation that the Oscars and Grammys do, but the Webbys are starting to gain traction -- if not cachet -- in pop culture circles.

Formed to recognize outstanding Web site content and design, the annual Webby Awards, now in their 12th year, provide evidence that online sites and entertainment not only are an engaging and evolving medium, they also are a serious business.

The awards, to be given during ceremonies next week in New York even though the winners already have been announced, include achievement awards for "The Colbert Report" host Stephen Colbert, musicians David Byrne and Will.i.am and TV producer Lorne Michaels for their work in multimedia and popular culture. Overall, nearly 70 Webbys will be awarded in categories ranging from as arts, culture and business to online film and video, interactive advertising and a People's Voice award in each category.

This year's crop is characterized by the imaginative ways the sites engage visitors, dynamic use of animation and graphics and sometimes unpredictable qualities.

Some sites worth a look:

• In the online film and video categories, the urban Western "The West Side" won for best drama, Web phenomenon "Lonelygirl15" won the People's Voice award; and interactive drama "Crimeface" took both the juried and the popular awards in the experimental category; and "Tom Green's House Tonight" won for best variety series.

TheWestSide.tv

lg15.com

crimeface.net

tomgreen.com

• "TED: Ideas Worth Spreading," featuring videos of experts and notable speakers on a variety of topics such as global issues, technology, business, entertainment, arts and culture, as well as discussion boards, took awards for best podcast and visual design.
ted.com

• Another double award winner, for net art and culture/personal blog, PostSecret lets people express their innermost secrets anonymously -- examples: "I love my family but I always ignore their phone calls" and a cashier's confession: "I try to 'skip' an item for every customer. Yay for free things!"
PostSecret.blogspot.com

• The Museum of Modern Art in New York earned best art site award for its online component to last years' "Richard Serra Sculpture: 40 Years" exhibit, which in addition to still photos and videos of pieces in the exhibition also included videos of the sculpture garden installation filmed in fast motion, showing changes from day to night.
moma.org/exhibitions/2007/serra

• Best television winner "HBO Voyeur" is an intriguing collection of online dramas set in Manhattan apartment buildings, where viewers could click on a window and watch the silent, interconnected dramas unfold.
hbovoyeur.com

• Flock, the winner for best social networking site, enables people who use multiple networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to reach their friends and contacts across these platforms through the one-stop Flock site.
flock.com

• Designed for both players and developers, best games site Kongregate lets members play games along with their friends or upload their own creations.
kongregate.com

• The weird category prize goes to Passive-Aggressive Notes, which is subtitled "painfully polite and hilariously hostile writings from shared spaces the world over." These are the odd memos people post at work and home, posted for the world to share.
passiveaggressivenotes.com

The Webby Awards ceremony and gala, scheduled for June 9 and 10 in New York, will be hosted by Seth Meyers of "Saturday Night Live" and Judah Friedlander of "30 Rock." For links to other winners and nominees: webbyawards.com.

On the local online front, the National Aviary has revamped its Web site to give visitors more information about both its birds and its conservation and research programs.

There's lots for kids, from advice on bird watching and keeping birds as pets to how the Aviary trains birds for its shows, along with teaching materials.

A section on research programs details the Aviary's national and international conservation programs involving peregrine falcons, eagles and other birds. This section also has easy links to its golden and bald eagle tracking program, and its Falconcam Webcams, which are trained on Downtown and Oakland falcon nests.

aviary.org