NMP/AppNet, the Virginia-based full-service Internet and Web solutions firm, won first place in the Invitational Masters Division of the first "Masters of the Web" design contest to benefit charity.

The award was announced Feb. 10 at the IDG Demo 99 conference in California, although the actual Web design competition took place over a 24-hour period on Nov. 7, 1998.

NMP/AppNet competed in the invitation-only masters division, which pitted the best Web design firms in the U.S. against each other to design online content for the Starbright Foundation.

The company received a $5,000 cash prize for its win.

Each competing team featured six people who weren't told the specifics of the site until the day of the contest. The teams then had 24 hours to have a site up and working.

The Starbright Foundation, created by film-maker Steven Spielberg, develops projects that help seriously ill children combat the medical and emotional challenges they face on a daily basis.

Starbright offers a private computer network accessible at member hospitals where affected children can use chat rooms to communicate with each other and learn from videos, CD-ROMs and software that explains many of their diseases, medical procedures and basic functionings of the body.

The first annual charity design contest was launched to "inspire the enormously influential new media community to get involved in charity," according to a Masters of the Web news release.

Entrants also were asked to make a voluntary contribution to the charity. A new charitable group will be chosen each year for the design contest.

NMP/AppNet - formerly known as NMP Inc. - has received more than 500 Web site design and service awards in the last two years. The firm became a part of AppNet, Inc. in October 1998.