Announcing the 2009 Crunchies Finalists.

Voting is now open for the third annual 2009 Crunchies Awards to celebrate the best technology accomplishments of 2009. Everyone is eligible and encouraged to vote once per day per award category through Wednesday, January 6 at midnight pst. There are 18 award categories to recognize accomplishments across a variety of fields and roles.

Finalists, grab a badge to get your community to vote for you as a winner. And please email us, so we can get you prepared for the ceremony.

Finalists were chosen by GigaOm, VentureBeat and us based on your popular nominations (over 141,000 actually) and our critical eye for the major accomplishments of companies, products and people in 2009. The fine print rules are here.

Wednesday at noon PST, we will release the first batch of 150 tickets to the Friday, January 8 awards ceremony to be held at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco, starting at 7:30 pm. Orchestra seats are $75 and balcony tickets are $45. Both tickets get you into the after-party across the street in City Hall’s Grand Rotunda through midnight. We have fewer than 450 total tickets to publicly release to the ceremony, so these may go nearly as fast as our Avatar screening.

Based on popular demand, we’re bringing the game room back to the after-party. We’ll have a mix of traditional and online games to play. And there are plenty of ways to sponsor and support the after-party energy. Contact Jeanne Logozzo or Heather Harde if you’d like to sponsor: card-game tables, demo tables, photo booths or walls, drinks or food, giveaways and prizes and the like. We have creative packages available in all shapes and sizes. Room for award benefactors and entertainment sponsors for the ceremony too.

The Crunchies Awards would not be possible without the support of amazing sponsors. Big applause to:

Remember to vote and vote often. We hope to see you at the ceremony on Friday, January 8 to celebrate the best of 2009 and usher in a brand new 2010 full of opportunity.