What Are The Best Startups Of 2011? #Crunchies

As open nominations for the 5th annual Crunchies awards enters its final week (nominate here until Dec 13), it’s time to figure out which are the best startups and products of 2011. The Crunchies, which we co-host along with GigaOm and VentureBeat, has 20 categories spanning from Best Mobile App to Best VC. We’ve introduced some new categories this year such as Best Tablet App, Best Shopping App, and Biggest Social Impact. But the most anticipated awards, the ones we save for last, are Best Overall Startup and Best New Startup of 2011.

Last year, Twitter won Best Overall and Quora won Best New Startup. Who will win this year? There are plenty of amazing startups to choose from. In the Best Overall category strong contenders include Airbnb, Dropbox and Square. They each grew like crazy this year and raised tons of money. Best New Startup is a tougher category. We allow startups that either were founded or launched during the year. Some names to think about here include Pinterest, Turntable.fm, Nest, Codecademy, Getaround, and Warby Parker.

Who do you think deserves to be named the best startup of the year? Nominate them on the Crunchies voting site and make your case in the comments below.

The 5th Annual Crunchies Awards

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness Ave.
San Francisco, CA

7:30pm – midnight – Awards Ceremony and After Party
A night of celebration with festive attire.

Tickets will be released in batches starting early December. Davies Symphony Hall can seat over 2,000 attendees, double the size of previous Crunchies Awards.

Nominations open: Friday, November 18th
Nominations close: Tuesday, December 13th at 11:59pm PST
Finalists announced: early January

Our sponsors help make the Crunchies happen, if you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities during the ceremony or after-party, please contact Jeanne Logozzo at jeanne [at] techcrunch [dot] com.

For press credentials, please fill out this request form and confirmations will be sent separately via email.