[1] The NII Awards were created in 1995 by Access Media Inc. (based in Santa Monica, California), with James Hake as Chairman.
[4] Businesses, community organizations, government agencies and individuals were all eligible to submit entries to the competition.
[7] The Awards were presented in Washington, D.C. at a dinner emceed by talk show personality Dick Cavett.
From 60 finalists, the winners' Awards were presented on December 3, 1996 in New York City at the Hilton Towers http://ic.media.mit.edu/projects/JBW/NIIPressRelease.html By 1997 the name was changed to Global Information Infrastructure (GII) Award, although entries were required to be in English, and based principally in the United States.
[21] The 1999 Awards were presented at the St. Francis Hotel on December 14, 1999, emceed by comedian Paula Poundstone, in conjunction with Ziff Davis Internet Studios Nextravaganza conference.