The New York Times led the pack of nominees for the Webby Awards on Tuesday with 13 nominations, and comedy Web site FunnyOrDie.com also gained attention for its gay marriage video Prop 8: The Musical.

The Webby Awards are in their 13th year and have been called the Oscars of the Internet for spotlighting online excellence from a wide range of sources, from viral videos to activist websites.

The 13 nominations for the online division of the New York Times included best newspaper website, best writing and best political and business blogs.

NBC.com, the website of U.S. television network NBC, had 12 nominations, including for online coverage of the Beijing Olympics last year, and in the broadband category for its streaming of full TV episodes.

Comedy site FunnyOrDie.com, a creation of comedian Will Ferrell and actor/director Adam McKay, earned two nominations for a December video called Prop 8: The Musical.

The video, starring comedian Jack Black and openly gay actor Neil Patrick Harris, made light of a constitutional amendment passed by California voters in November that bans same-sex marriages. The video was nominated for best writing and best individual comedy episode.

Winners of the awards will be announced on May 5 and honored in a ceremony in New York on June 8.

Satirical newspaper The Onion had eight nominations. News site The Daily Beast, the humorous FAIL Blog and cooking destination Cookstr all had two nominations. Social networking phenomenon Celebrity Tweet, which collects short online blurbs from Hollywood stars, was nominated in the celebrity category.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

California The New York Times