Myhome.ie, a property portal backed by several of the State's top auctioneers and AIB bank, won the overall 2001 Golden spiders award last night.

The site also won three category awards including: the marketing excellence award, best use of the internet by a small or medium-sized enterprise and the Esat Business sponsor's award.

The site, which is headed by Mr Jim Miley, claims to have the largest up to date property listing in the State and was established in February this year.

Ireland.com, the internet division of The Irish Times, was among the winners. The site won the information excellence award.

Topjobs.ie also had good reason to celebrate, winning both the "best recruitment site" and the "best e-business site" awards.

The winner of the "most significant contribution to the internet" award was Mr Michael O'Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair, for Ryanair.com, a site which last year won three awards, including the sponsor's award.

This year more than 1,000 sites were entered in the competition, the fifth Golden Spider Awards.

The awards were organised by dot.ie magazine. There were 18 categories, reflecting the increasing diversity of the internet and setting a tough task for the independent judging panel.

Other winners were:

best financial site award -http://www.goodbody.ie;

best e-commerce site award http://www.volkswagen.ie;

best travel site award - http//www.12travel.com;

best international site award - http://www.ryanair.com;

best community/special interest site award - http://www.scoilnet.ie

the dot ie readers award - http://www.boards.ie.