1997 was the first year of the annual webby award event, which was the first-ever nationally televised awards ceremony devoted to the internet. 700 people attended the event on march 6, 1997 at bimbo's night club in san francisco, california whereas in later years the panelists were official members of international academy of digital arts and sciences, in 1997 the awards were chosen and given by idg's "the web magazine", which appointed a panel to judge the competition.