Let the trumpets sound and the games begin. It’s not the Oscars or the Olympics, but it is the commencement of the 3rd annual Crunchies Awards that we’re pleased to co-host with GigaOm and VentureBeat (click for their coverage today).

Yes, this is the time of year that we stop bickering among ourselves as bloggers, and come together to honor the startups, products and entrepreneurs who make our lives so much fun.

The Crunchies Awards celebrate the best technology accomplishments of 2009. There are 18 award categories to recognize accomplishments across a variety of fields and roles. And to keep things fresh, we have a few new award categories this year too. Our focus is start-ups, but big companies and products can be winners too.

Starting today, nominate your favorite companies, products and people for consideration in 18 different award categories. Self nominations are welcome. Grab a badge here and get your community to support you for finalist consideration. Nominations are open through midnight pst December 4, 2009 .

The Crunchies Committee will choose five finalists per award category based on the submitted nominations and the company accomplishments made during 2009. Popular voting will open on Monday, December 21 and run through midnight pst, Wednesday January 6, 2010. The full rules are here. You can vote up to once per day in each category.

The Crunchies Awards will be held live Friday January 8, 2010 at 7:30 pm the Herbst Theater in San Francisco. We promise a memorable evening with the community to celebrate our accomplishments of 2009 and look forward to a bright 2010.

Who were some of our winners from 2008?

Facebook won the Crunchie for Best StartUp of 2008.

Friendfeed won the Crunchie for Best New StartUp of 2008.

Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone from Twitter won the Crunchie for Best Founder(s). Pictured here with award benefactor, CRV’s George Zachary.

The full list of finalists and winners from 2008 is here. 2007 is here.

Expect another great after-party to follow in City Hall’s grand Rotunda through midnight with lots more fun and games. As always, sponsors great and small make our events possible, so contact Jeanne Logozzo or Heather Harde if you want to participate in the awards ceremony or after-party festivities. If your press, please contact Daniel Brusilovsky for credentials.

Make someone’s year. Nominate a company for a Crunchie today.

Photo credits: Marc Salsberry