The 9th annual Webby Awards will be held in New York City's Historic Gotham Hall on June 6, organizers announced Tuesday. This is the first time the Internet's top honors will be held outside of their San Francisco birthplace.

Event representatives cited growing interest in the Webby Awards from New Yorkers as the reason for the change in venue. Other changes for 2005 include a doubling of award categories to 65, including the debut of Webby Special Achievement Awards.

The nominations, culled from more than 4,000 entries, will be unveiled April 12. Winners will be announced on May 3 and honored at the June 6 event. A quirk of the Webbies is that acceptance speeches customarily are limited to no more than five words.

This year's emcee will be comedian Rob Corddry of Comedy Central's The Daily Show with John Stewart. More than 400 luminaries from the fields of media, advertising, business, technology, entertainment, politics, and the arts are expected to attend.

The Webby Awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences.