Biting into the Crunchies: Innovative Awards and a Great Party

Civic Center Plaza, oft bustling with symphony and opera patrons dressed to the nines hosted a different kind of crowd last night at the Crunchies, TechCrunch awards for best new technology companies for 2008. The ceremony, located in Herbst Theater, brought satisfaction to the Silicon

 Valley faithful,many of whom voted online for the award recipients. Followed by a party at City Hall sponsored by MySpace, the night showcased some of the best and the brightest people and companies around.

Co-sponsored by VentureBeat, GigaOm and Silicon Alley Insider, the award ceremony was the anti-Oscars, featuring mostly men in denim and lots of hoots from the crowd. Winners included Google Reader (accepted by Marissa Mayer, pictured right), Facebook, Twitter and more.  Across the street, the party raged following the awards, featuring DJ ZTrip, wine by Cannonball and a host of geek games. With 900 people in attendance, the event proved to be a combination networking scene and who's who of social media.

The show was not like other traditional award ceremonies. This one featured the Stanford  Mobile Phone Orchestra, an a capella troupe called The Richter Scales (pictured, top center), and interludes with videos and on-stage mini-keynote interviews.  Organized by TechCrunch (see CEO Heather Harde, left), both the ceremony and after-party were sold-out and well-attended.

For a full list of some of the big names who attended, see the TechCrunch post, "Why We Put on the Crunchies" and see also the full list of nominees and winners. You can also watch the video of the awards ceremony.

Photos by Chuck Pletcher.