The Crunchies -- the award for tech startups organized by TechCrunch, GigaOm, Read/WriteWeb and VentureBeat -- have finally announced the five finalists for each category. No word yet from the official hosts, but below is the list of nominees. For reactions check out TechMeme.
- Best Technology Innovation/Achievement: Earthmine, Like, Move Networks, Twine, Viewdle
- Best bootstrapped start-up: FriendFeed, PoliticalBase, ProductWiki, Techmeme, UpNext
- Best new gadget/device: iPhone, Kindle, Ooma, Pleo, Wii
- Best business model: Glam Media, Imeem, Prosper, Weatherbill, Zazzle
- Best design: Etsy, Jackson Fish Market, Netvibes, SmugMug, Songza
- Best enterprise start-up: 37Signals, Attributor, EditGrid, Ribbit, Zoho
- Best consumer start-up: 1800-FREE-411, 23andMe, LinkedIn, Meebo, Zillow
- Best mobile start-up: AdMob, Fring, Loopt, Shozu, Twitter
- Best international start-up: Atlassian, Gizmoz, MusicShake, Netvibes, Openads
- Best user-generated content site: Digg, Facebook, Geni, Instructables, Yelp
- Best video site: Aniboom, Hulu, Joost, Justin.tv, Tokbox
- Best clean tech start-up: A123Systems, Ausra, Gridpoint, NanoSolar, Tesla Motors
- Best user of viral marketing: Flixter, iLike, iminlikewithyou, RockYou, StumbleUpon
- Best time sink site: College Humor, Duels, Kdice, Kongregate, Pandora
- Most likely to make the world a better place: Causes, DonorsChoose, ZeroFootprint, Kiva, One Laptop Per Child
- Most likely to succeed: Kayak, Mint, Slide, Wordpress, Zivity
- Best start-up founder: Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), Max Levchin (Slide), Kevin Rose (Digg), Evan Williams (Twitter), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)
- Best start-up CEO: Gina Bianchini (Ning), Dick Costolo (Feedburner), Toni Schneider (Wordpress), Rob Solomon (Sidestep), Lance Takoda (Rock You)
- Best new start-up of 2007: Hulu, iMedix, Joost, Ribbit, Tumblr
- Best overall: Digg, Facebook, GrandCentral, Twitter, Zillow
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