Nude 'Male Copywriter' wins two Webbys

BOSTON, June 14 (UPI) -- A Boston man whose portfolio Web site became famous for featuring a picture of himself in an iconic nude pose is accepting two Webby awards -- and several jobs.

Lawson Clarke, 38, said he began building his Web site while still employed last year and he went with the tongue-in-cheek domain name malecopywriter.com because lawsonclarke.com was already taken,

"Then it was, 'Well, what does Male Copywriter look like?' Well, he looks like Burt Reynolds in the Cosmopolitan spread," Clarke said, making reference to a 1972 image of Reynolds lying naked on a bearskin rug. "I knew a lot of really incredible creatives were going to be out on the street, so I needed an extra little something to stand out. And I wanted it to be the sort of thing that would make me laugh if it came across my desk."

Clarke, who started the site after he was laid off last year, said it received attention from a number of industry publications, leading more than a million visitors to the site.

He said the site became so popular that he was able to turn down full-time job offers in favor of steady freelance work.

The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences awarded Clarke two Webby Awards, given out for excellence on the Internet, in the categories of best home/welcome page and best self-promotion/portfolio site. He is due to accept the awards Monday in New York.