Pilot's Web sites finalists for Internet's best

PilotOnline, Hamptonroads.com and Hamptonroads.tv have been chosen as finalists for the 2006 EPpy awards for interactive media, sponsored by Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek magazines.

The combined sites are one of three finalists in the category of Best Overall Newspaper-Affiliated Internet Service with over 1 million unique monthly visitors.

Roanoke.com, the Web site of Landmark's Roanoke Times in Roanoke is also a finalist in the category. The third finalist is heraldtribune.com in Southwest Florda.

The winner will be announced May 19 at the Interactive Media Conference & Trade Show in Las Vegas.

Finalists in the category for larger newspaper Web sites are NYTimes.com, washingtonpost.com and usatoday.com.

Since 1996, the EPpy Awards have honored the best new media services from the newspaper i ndustry. In 2003, the awards were expanded for the first time to honor the best work in the o nline field by media outlets, including newspapers, radio, and broadcast/cable TV.

Update: The winners were announced on May 22:

In the category of Best Overall Newspaper-Affiliated Internet Service with more than 1 million unique monthly visitors, Washingtonpost.com took top honors. In the category of Best Overall Newspaper-Affiliated Internet Service under 1 million unique monthly visitors, Roanoke.com was the winner.