The 6th Annual Crunchies Awards are happening in January (grab a ticket) bringing together a global scene of technology companies. Similarly, The Europas – The European Tech Startup awards – on January 22 in Berlin, honours the European tech startup scene annually, and, after hitting it’s fourth year, it’s become something of an institution on the European tech scene. The awards celebrate the best in Europe’s tech scene and are chosen by an esteemed panel of judges, such as YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, and SoundCloud co-founder Eric Wahlforss, among others. However, alongside the winners chosen by judges from the tech industry, will be a set of winners chosen by you guys. So this year the awards add a new dimension: allowing the industry itself to pick out the “People’s Choice” award, so get voting and get a ticket here.
There are companies you’ll have heard of, like SoundCloud and Spotify, and some you won’t. But this public vote means many of Europe’s newest startups will be able to get into the public eye. Nominations were open from November 12, and now there are over 600 startups to pick from after they made it through the 1,000 entries that were received. I’m told there has now been over 25,000 votes since the voting started 24hrs ago, so based on this enormous response the deadline to vote has now been extended to January 11.
The top 10 nominees in the People’s Choice will be recognised amongst the winners of the main categories at the awards. This year the event (disclosure, I founded the awards and chair the judging) is being run by the team behind the Dublin Web Summit and F.ounders.
The event will bring together Europe’s startup community for a celebration of the best in tech. Judges for the event include partners with Kleiner Perkins, Accel, Index, Google Ventures, Crunchfund, entrepreneurs like Jawed Karim (founder of Youtube and Youniversity Ventures), Errol Damelin (founder of Wonga), Michael Birch (founder of Bebo, Monkey Inferno), Matthew Prince (founder of Cloudflare) and Lady Gaga manager and angel investor Troy Carter. Journalists from TechCrunch, The Next Web, Venturebeat, Reuters and some of the leading blogs across Europe are also judging at The Europas.
This year The Europas has also expanded to include a number of regional categories. These awards will focus on the best startup in a particular region or country including: the best startup in the UK, Ireland, Nordics, Germany, Russia, MENA and others. The regional awards will be presented by the judges at a lunch in Berlin on the afternoon of the event. Past winners of the awards have included Spotify, Soundcloud, MindCandy, Rovio and Wonga.
The awards ceremony will take place in Berlin on January 22. There are still tickets left for the main event which will be followed by a huge after-party.
I gather both reserved hotels are now sold out, as are all VIP tables and Big Tables. However, here are some suggested hotels. Grab a ticket here.