Yahoo! shortlists Web ‘Finds of the Year’

The 45 websites are also contenders for the People’s Choice award which allows the UK general public to participate and vote for their favourite online resource.  

Voted by a panel of experts, the winners of fifth annual Finds of the Year will be announced on the 4th of January 2007 but the UK public are able to have their say and choose their favourite website by voting on the Finds of the Year 2006 site for the People’s Choice category.  The winner of this category will be crowned king on the 16th January 2007.

The sites are shortlisted across ten categories (including people’s choice):

1.        Charity
2.        Ethical
3.        Educational
4.        Innovative
5.        Resourceful
6.        Travel
7.        Weird and Wonderful
8.        Shopping
9.        Entertainment
10.      People’s Choice

This year’s judging panel is made up of; last year’s People’s Choice ‘Finds’ winner Nick Poulden (The Leaky Cauldron) Nigel Powell, (The Sunday Times) Mark Harris (The Metro, The Guardian, The Independent) Luke Peters, (ComputerActive) Claire Woffenden (Web User) and Fiona McIntosh (Grazia).

The panel are responsible for choosing the winning website across each of the nine categories leaving the People’s Choice to be decided by the UK public.

Yahoo! Search Finds of the Year 2006 Shortlist (by category)

Charity

The Road to Beijing: An inspiring site which details one person's efforts to participate in the 2008 Olympics as a marathon runner, and raise money for the British Lung Association.
www.theroadtobeijing.co.uk

Cowforce: A great site aimed at school children, Send a Cow is a charity which raises money to pay for livestock in Africa.
www.cowforce.com

Dog Blood Donors: This website allows dog owners to register for blood donations0
www.dogblooddonors.com/index.php

Big White Box: Big White Box is a new way to buy and sell digital pictures. Any profit the site makes goes to Oxfam, Care and Save the Children.
www.bigwhitebox.com

Alternative Wedding List: A charitable gift list website where guests can make donations to charitable organisations on your behalf.
www.thealternativeweddinglist.co.uk

Ethical

Responsible Travel: An on-line travel agent - based in Brighton, England - for travellers who want more real and authentic holidays that also benefit the environment and local people.
www.responsibletravel.com

Stop Tout: Stop Tout is an ethical ticket exchange run by fans for the fans. All tickets are sold at face value.
www.stoptout.com

ptout.com Expensive Taste: A boutique online shop which is full of contemporary, beautiful, carefully selected accessories and clothes which prove that looking good needn't cost the earth.
www.expensivetaste.co.uk

Sheep Poo Paper: This is the only craft paper mill in Wales, makers of beautiful handcrafted papers and paper products including the unique and wonderful Sheep Poo Paper™. All paper is made from recycled materials and processes are designed to live up to the highest environmental and quality standards possible.
www.creativepaperwales.co.uk

       
All Things Green: Green products and a good resource for small 'green' businesses who don't have the resource to offer an e-commerce site. Organic, Eco-friendly, Recycled, Sustainable and Natural products and gifts direct from UK based small businesses.
www.allthingsgreen.net

Educational

Know your limits: A great website educating people in Northern Ireland about alcohol and its related problems.
www.knowyourlimits.gov.uk

Working Life: The photographs on this website bear testimony to the men, women and children who created the wealth of the UK and have never received the just recognition, or reward, for their labours.
www.workinglife.org.uk

Film Street: A great-looking website which looks to educate young people into the art of filmmaking.
www.filmstreet.co.uk

MyMaths: A excellent tool to learn maths. It uses the idea of getting kids to do online homework and some of the games are very engaging.
www.mymaths.co.uk

Innovative

Lose it back: Unique loss protection and recovery service. Simply apply our unique labels to your portable and expensive items, activate them online and you're covered.
www.loseitback.com

Zubka: A recruitment site that works through personal recommendations and referrals...a way of things to come.
www.zubka.com

Nappy Valley: A unique online marketplace for buying and selling quality nearly new baby items. www.nappyvalley.co.uk

Fat badgers: An innovative pub and inn guide for the UK broken down by regions. Easy to use and quirky - each recommendation is personally visited by a representative and extensively reviewed.
www.fatbadgers.co.uk

My Private Hire: Advertise your personal items for hire and make money - similar to eBay, but you don't sell your belongings.
www.myprivatehire.com

Pledge Bank: A website where people can create pledges and they can live up to them.
www.pledgebank.com

Resourceful

Patient Opinion: This site is all about enabling patients to share their experiences of healthcare, and by doing so help other patients - and perhaps even change the NHS.
www.patientopinion.org.uk

Brit Blog: A directory of British blogs.
www.britblog.com

The Spine: A great blog focusing on political satire, in words and in pictures. Very amusing but informative.
www.the-spine.com

Urban Junkies: A great informative website focusing on lifestyle in London.
www.urbanjunkies.com

Tired and Tested: A social networking site focusing on sport. Build your own club, list events, add buddies, movies and reports.
www.tiredandtested.com

Travel

Geograph: The Geograph British Isles project aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of the UK and Eire.
www.geograph.org.uk

Escape to the real world: A website that brings travellers together: sharing experiences and helping to make the world a better place.
www.meaningful.i-to-i.com

Baby friendly Botholes: A website that lists places to go on holiday that are baby friendly.
www.babyfriendlyboltholes.co.uk

Train delays: A website that aims to make sure that people are reimbursed for their train delays.
www.traindelays.co.uk

Heartbeatguides: A website that lists downloadable podcasts for travelling.
www.heartbeatguides.com

Weird and Wonderful

Bee Dogs: A website showcasing dogs that are dressed up as bees.
www.beedogs.com

The Chap: A satirical magazine for modern gentlemen.
www.thechap.net

Book Sniffing: A website for a group of people who are interested in sniffing books.
http://uk.geocities.com/booksniffersanon

Cheese Racing: The website for the exciting cutting edge sport known as Cheese Racing.
http://www.cheeseracing.org

Trolley Spotting: A website project looking into abandoned shopping trolleys.
http://www.trolleyspotting.co.uk

Shopping

Supermarket Wine: Wine shopping site that enables you to find reviewed and recommended wine at your local supermarket.
www.supermarketwine.com

Split the Atom: Split the Atom is an exclusive, limited edition t-shirt company that is powered by customers' creativity. Designers submit their ideas online, which are then rated by customers. The winning designs are put on sale.
www.splittheatom.com

British Corner Shop: British food goods for expats.
www.britishcornershop.co.uk

Riverford Organic Vegetables: Organic vegetables - Riverford farm is situated along the Dart Valley in Devon and delivers fresh organic vegetable boxes direct from the farm to homes across the South of the UK.
www.riverford.co.uk

Re-found Objects:  An interesting website with innovative logic behind the goods available - a mixture of new and old goods.
www.re-foundobjects.com

Entertainment

Stewart Walton: This is a sketch book of famous bands from a UK artist
www.stewartwalton.com

The Custard: What's coming up on TV, what's good, bad and ugly.
www.thecustard.tv

Mr Paparazzi: Website for Big Pictures, the world's biggest celebrity picture agency which allows people to upload their own celebrity pictures
http://www.mrpaparazzi.co.uk

The Royalist: A great blog relating to all things royal. The first port of call for anything relating to the British Royal family.
www.theroyalist.net

The Bubble Burst: A fun website which looks at where certain celebrities are now.
www.thebubbleburst.co.uk