Spotlight on Startups: Finalists for Seattle 2.0 and CNET Webware Awards Announced

‘Tis the season for Seattle startup awards. This week, the finalists have been announced for two separate sets of techie awards—one local, one national. If nothing else, the awards call much-deserved attention to the efforts of some very busy companies around town that we follow closely here at Xconomy.

—Finalists for Marcelo Calbucci’s Seattle 2.0 awards were announced in 10 different categories. (I was a judge for every category except for one, startup blogs, because Xconomy is one of the finalists. Thanks to everyone who nominated us.) Photo-editing startup Picnik leads the way, as a finalist in four categories. The ceremony, at which the winners will be named, is happening on May 7 at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, and you can cast your votes here.

Best startup: DreamBox Learning, Picnik, Redfin, Wetpaint

Best bootstrapped startup: Appature, BigOven, Picnik, Urbanspoon

Best startup CEO: Andy Liu (BuddyTV), Glenn Kelman (Redfin), Jonathan Sposato (Picnik), Matt Hulett (mPire/Widgetbucks)

Best startup technologist: Chris Hahn (Appature), Greg Harrison (mPire/Widgetbucks), Joe Heitzeberg (WhitePages), Nat Brown (iLike)

Best startup product designer: Jenny Lam (Jackson Fish Market), Keith Harper (Inkd), Peter Roman (Picnik)

Best venture capitalist: Bill Bryant (Draper Fisher Jurvetson), Bill McAleer (Voyager Capital), Matt McIlwain (Madrona Venture Group), Nick Hanauer (Second Avenue Partners)

Best angel investor: Andy Sack (Founder’s Co-op), Bill Bryant (Draper Fisher Jurvetson), Geoff Entress (Voyager Capital), Mike Koss (Startpad)

Best service provider to startups: Adam Philipp (Axios Law Group), Craig Sherman (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati), Shannon Swift (Swift HR Solutions)

Best blog about startups: Startup Whisperer (Matt Hulett), TechFlash (John Cook, Todd Bishop, Eric Engleman), Xconomy Seattle (Greg Huang, Luke Timmerman)

Best social event for startups: Ignite Seattle (Brady Forrest), Lunch 2.0 (Josh Maher), nPost Networking (Nathan Kaiser), Open Coffee (Andy Sack)

—CNET’s Webware 100 award nominees were announced (all 300 of them), also in 10 different categories across the Internet and Web 2.0 sector. Not counting some more established technologies from the likes of Microsoft and Amazon (like Amazon Web Services, Silverlight, and Windows Live Sync), here are the Seattle-area startups we found nominated in their respective categories. Winners will be announced on April 19. Vote here.

Audio & Music: iLike

Commerce: Farecast, Zillow

Communication: Jott

Photo & Video: Picnik

Productivity: Blist, LiquidPlanner

Search & Reference: eHow, Evri

Social Networking & Publishing: Wetpaint

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.