Every day, we at Technical.ly talk to technologists, entrepreneurs and leaders building in D.C. They span different categories of company and job title, and have different paths and plans for getting to the ultimate destination.

Through them all, a couple of threads become clear: a resounding commitment to making an impact in the DMV, and the fact that bringing change is hard.

So, let’s take a night to get together and recognize the people, companies and partnerships powering the local community. They deserve it.

The 2019 Technical.ly Awards are coming to D.C. this December, highlighting the people and teams making big contributions inside new ventures, and on the local economy as a whole. Our first-ever RealLIST Engineers will be honored that night, too.

But first, we have to pick the winners. And we need your help. Follow the link below to vote in seven categories. Voting is open through Thursday, Nov. 7. For some added background, check out more about each nominee below.

We last hosted D.C. awards in 2017. A little bit about the process: The Technical.ly DC Awards are an online vote highlighting the best in new thinking. The Technical.ly DC team curates a list of nominees to be voted on by the local tech community — one vote per person. Though candidates can be nominated in multiple years and for different categories, no one can win the same category more than once. The spirit is to welcome in new leaders.

And the nominees are …

Invention of the Year

• Happied app is an iOS and Android-friendly mobile app that’s equipped with a database of more than 450 D.C. happy hours.
• LifeFuels‘ smart nutrition water bottle is a portable beverage maker with flavored and nutrition-packed FuelPods that connects to a free mobile app to track your hydration and nutrition needs. The company’s flagship product hit the market last month.
• The Please Assist Me personal assistant platform is a tech platform that connects people with reliable assistants to help them manage day-to-day chores and tasks.
• TransitScreen’s CityMotion app is a mobile app from the public transit tech company that integrates public and private transit data, providing a location-based look at all nearby transportation options.
• Equal Reality’s virtual reality diversity training platform uses VR to curate trainings for diversity and inclusion, sexual harassment, workplace bullying and unconscious bias by putting a person in someone else’s shoes.

Impact Leader of the Year

• Adam Mutschler, founder and CEO of podcast “The Founder’s Mind” and partner at The Kedar Group
• Melissa Bradley, managing partner at 1863 Ventures, who was a part of the program’s rebrand from Project 500 and is now a program partner for HERImpact DC, a joint venture between 1863 Ventures and the Ford Fund
• C’pher Gresham, CEO of SEED SPOT, who has worked with the prominent social impact incubator program for five years and recently transitioned into his leadership role over the summer
• Elizabeth Lindsey, executive director of tech training nonprofit Byte Back, who was recently recognized by The Root on its annual top 100 most influential African Americans list
• Kelly O’Malley, manager at the Georgetown Venture Lab, who formerly led D.C.’s Vinetta Project chapter as regional director for two years

CTO of the Year

• Lindsey Parker, chief technology officer for the D.C government, who was unanimously voted in back in March
• Jess Szmajda, chief technology officer at Axios, who created the DC Tech Slack group, Joy of Programming Meetup and formerly served as CTO at Optoro
• Young Hahn, chief technology officer at Mapbox, and a designer and engineer helping his team grow by way of mentorship
• Emily Dresner, chief technology officer at Upside Business Travel, who leads a team of more than 50 engineers to power Upside’s REST-based Node.js and machine learning-powered work travel platform
• Chris DeMay, chief technology officer at Hawkeye 360, who is also the founder of the company and conceptualized the idea for Hawkey 360 while he was working for the U.S. government

Startup of the Year

• HUNGRY, the Rosslyn, Virginia-based office catering startup that curates an online marketplace that connects independent chefs directly with the catering market and closed an $8 million Series A funding round in April
• WhyHotel, the H Street Corridor-based company temporarily that turns new luxury apartment building units into pop-up hotel suites as the building works to fill the vacancies with leased tenants, and closed a $10 million Series A funding round in December 2018
• Curbio, the Potomac, Maryland-based real estate tech company founded in 2017 that curates a platform to help realtors manage renovation projects while also helping homeowners flip their homes to make a better profit
• Aperiomics, the Sterling, Virginia-based biotech startup using genomic analysis to detect every known pathogen from a sample of any nature in just one test
• MemoryWell, the D.C.-based startup that created a network of professional journalists who interview seniors and their families

Growth Company of the Year

• Quorum, the Dupont Circle-based public affairs software company that made upgrades to its product line over the last year
• Framebridge, the D.C. online framing company that raised a $30 million Series C in 2018, and expanded its local footprint retail store in the District earlier this year
• FiscalNote, the downtown D.C. company that analyzes legislation, and stepped into media with the acquisition of CQ Roll Call
• Aquicore, the downtown D.C. commercial real estate operations platform that helps buildings monitor utility usage
• Amify, the ecommerce service provider that raised a $5.8 million Series A and moved to Crystal City this year

Corporate Innovation of the Year

• Accenture Federal Services, the Arlington-based IT consulting firm that is growing a D.C. presence also expanded to San Antonio, Texas, with a cyber center
• Booz Allen Hamilton Innovation Center, the McLean, Virginia-based IT consulting firm that’s playing an increasingly active role in the D.C. tech community with a Northwest D.C. innovation center and support of entrepreneurship initiatives such as SEED Spot’s accelerator
• Capital One Labs, the McLean-based company team applying emerging technology in finance
• JLABS, the collaboration between Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Children’s National Health System and BARDA to bring a biomedical space to D.C.
• Marriott International Innovation Lab, the underground Bethesda space where the hotel company is working on future hotel technology and innovation

Culture Builder of the Year

• Hilliary Turnipseed, the talent and culture advisor who leads Hilliary Turnipseed Consulting and managed talent acquisition for Upside Travel, POLITICO, Discovery Communications and Blackboard
• Julie Elberfeld, senior VP of shared technology at Capital One, who launched the company’s internal Women in Tech program and is a leading voice for diversity initiatives across the company
• Gerald Kierce-Iturrioz, the chief of staff at FiscalNote, who worked his way up to this role over the past five years, starting out at the company as a customer success manager
• Steven A. Rodriguez, Techstars’ regional manager of startup programs for U.S. and Canada
• Pearlie Oni, the senior manager of employee experience at Alexandria-based marketing agency RedPeg