Now launched: the physics.org 2010 web awards!

It’s difficult to find data on how many websites there are online now, but just over two years ago, Google announced that it has indexed a trillion different URLs.

In the face of this growing mountain of information, people’s online habits have changed. Relatively few people aimlessly ‘browse’ the web, but instead rely increasingly on their peers to unearth the most interesting content and share it using sites like digg, facebook or twitter.

IOP’s physics.org strives to tell people about the best physics online, and to be the first port of call for anyone with a budding interest in physics. So this year we’re launching the first ever physics.org web awards, to find and reward the best physics-related sites and content out there.

Over the past nine years we’ve scoured the web and amassed over 4000 great physics links in our searchable Explore database. But there are still plenty which we don’t know about – and that’s why we need your help!

Nominations for the physics.org web awards open today, and you have 5 weeks (until 10th October) to tell us about your favourite physics sites and give them a chance of scooping up an award.

You can do this by sending us a link on twitter (message @dotrythisathome or just use the hashtag #pwa10), facebook or by email (editor@physics.org).

Please specify which category your nominee is for – the options we have are:

Best blog
Best news site / online magazine
Best podcast
Best Q&A / ask the expert site
Best revision site
Best kids’ site
President’s prize (any site or content which doesn’t fall under any of the categories above)

Once the nominees are in, we’ll shortlist our favourite five for each category. The winners will then be chosen by our panel of judges, but also by the users of physics.org (more info on that closer to the time).

Visit physics.org to find out more about the 2010 web awards.