The first round of voting is done. This morning, the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) announced the finalists for its 14th annual Industry Achievement Awards. Among the finalists are several Seattle-area companies we’ve reported on extensively at Xconomy, and a few others you’ll be hearing more about soon.
Here are this year’s finalists, sorted by award category:
—Breakthrough startup of the year: Apptio, LiquidPlanner, and Ontela.
—Consumer product or service of the year: Pet Holdings (which runs I Can Has Cheezburger and other websites), Picnik, and Wetpaint.
—Commercial product or service of the year: Concur, Inrix, and Visible Technologies.
—Technology innovator of the year: Don Ledford of Vantos, Darrin Massena of Picnik, and Matthew Parks of Visto.
—Service provider of the year: AdReady, Azaleos, and Cobalt.
—Best use of technology in the government, nonprofit, or educational sector: eCityGov Alliance, Snohomish County Planning & Development Services, and South Sound Health Communication Network.
—Technology leader of tomorrow: Aaron Love, St. Therese School, eighth grade; Matthew McMillan, St. Therese School, seventh grade; Israel Zemeadim, Washington Middle School, eighth grade.
According to the WTIA, the goal of the awards is to recognize “innovation and excellence in creating new technologies, applications, and services.” At Xconomy, we’ll be watching the startup, product, and innovator races particularly closely. All of the winners will be decided by the local tech community through an online voting system that will open on February 23. The WTIA will provide more details as the date approaches.
And then the good stuff: the winners will be announced at a gala at the Paramount Theater in downtown Seattle on March 25. The event is doubling as a celebration of the WTIA’s 25th anniversary.