TIMBERWeb has won a special trophy, acknowledging it as a site for the future, in the FT Business Web Site of the Year Awards.

At a glittering occasion at the Cafe Royal, London, Chairman and Chief Executive Keith Richmond was presented with the “Site to Watch” award by the BBC’s Sue MacGregor, in a climax to the proceedings.

The BBC itself was also in the spotlight, BBC News Online winning the Public Sector Entries category.

TIMBERWeb has developed strongly since its launch early last year, becoming straight away the leading web site for the timber industry. It now has nearly 3,600 businesses in its database and business card subscribers in 30 countries.

The special features of the site include a message board which is used regularly by businesses all over the world, a weekly conference, a currency page which is constantly updated, and a Newsdesk giving not only timber industry news but also a full service of general news and sport.

Another recipient of the Worth Watching Sites was Road Tech Computer Systems Ltd, which provides transport companies with a service to place and search for backloads in the UK and the rest of Europe.

Awards at the ceremony made it clear that electronic commerce is becoming firmly established. Dell Europe, with computer sales of more than $5 million a week on its site, took the Large Organisations category.

There were joint winners in the Finance category - the Co-operative Bank, which attracted 12,000 customers to its online banking site in its first six months since launch in March, and GNI which provides brokerage services and research in the global derivatives market via the Internet.

The Not for Profit category was won by The Nature Conservancy. It handles membership requests and donations online, saving on administration costs.

Among highly commended sites were Cellnet, Eastman Kodak Company and the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The objective of the competition is to share and promote the best business practice on the web. The 27 finalists were chosen as entries regarded as best demonstrating an effective and impressive use of internet technology to achieve commercial advantages against the yardsticks of business transformation, innovation and measurable financial benefit.

To see the full list of winners and runners-up, click here