For the fourth time in five years, ESPN.com, the leading sports site, has been awarded the prestigious 2001 People's Voice Award for sports. The People's Voice Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, were announced last night at the 5th Annual Webby Awards in San Francisco. The People's Voice Awards are selected by the online community of Internet users who cast votes for their favorite Web sites. This year, nearly 400,000 votes were cast.

"No matter the metric, ESPN.com proves to be the best in its field time and time again, and we couldn't be happier about an award voted on directly by the users," said John Skipper, senior vice president and general manager, ESPN.com. "Our staff takes great pride in producing the premier sports site, and this is a real testament to their hard work."

Since the Webby Awards began in 1997, ESPN.com has been honored with two Webby Awards (1997 and 2000) and four People's Voice Awards (1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001), more than any other sports site. ESPN.com, the leading sports Web site, is part of the Walt Disney Internet Group. Walt Disney Internet Group is one of five business units of The Walt Disney Company and manages many of the most popular Web sites and services, including Disney.com, ESPN.com, ABC.com and ABCNEWS.com. Additional properties include Family.com, Mr.Showbiz, Movies.com, DisneyAuctions.com, DisneyStore.com, DisneyVacations.com and Soccernet.com. Walt Disney Internet Group also produces Enhanced TV telecasts in conjunction with select ABC Television and ESPN programming, and includes 19 Disney-branded international properties. Steve Wadsworth is president of Walt Disney Internet Group, which is headquartered in North Hollywood, CA, and has operations in Bristol, CT; Seattle; New York; Tokyo and London. -30-

Ashley Swadel, ESPN.com (212) 456-7890 or ashley.c.swadel@dig.com