The best and brightest of #dctech got together for a celebration Wednesday night, as the winners of the 2017 Technical.ly DC Awards were unveiled.
The community turned out at 1776 for a party in partnership with General Assembly. The night provides a chance to recognize eye-catching work over the last year, and get a look at who the community is watching.
After a round of nominations, the Technical.ly audience voted on award winners for the evening. Each winner took home an award created by Gensler.
And the winners are…
Best Web/Mobile Product of the Year
- Nominate Her. Tech Lady Hackathon co-organizer Jessica Garson created a collaborative list of awards that women in the D.C. tech community could get nominated for.

Jessica Garson (Photo by James Cullum)
Entrepreneur of 2017

Shelly Bell accepting the award for Entrepreneur of 2017. (Photo by James Cullum)
- Shelly Bell, the founder of Black Girl Vision and the “Boss Up” pitch competition, which gives the crowd that turns out to an event a chance to invest directly in the winner’s business.
Technologist of the Year
- Taylor Poindexter, a cofounder of the Black Code Collective. The developer shared credit with her collaborators in the group for the win.
I wanted to reemphasize that while I was the figure head tonight, BCC wouldn’t be possible without my amazing cofounders Lougenia, Malick, Eman, and Stephon 💜🙌🏾 pic.twitter.com/pu2Bqk7yzV
— Taylor Poindexter (@engineering_bae) December 7, 2017
Design/Dev Firm of the Year
- Spoke, The Noma-based creative agency brought the team out for the night.
Amazingly humbled.@spokedotco wins Design Firm of the Year by @TechnicallyDC.
Thank you for voting! pic.twitter.com/fiOk8bmsYj
— Sam Bays (@samcbays) December 7, 2017
Tech Mission Org of the Year
- Women Who Code DC, the local chapter of the nonprofit inspiring women to get into technology careers.
https://twitter.com/Lauren_CJay/status/938774149832560640
Best New Collaborative Workspace
- The Hatchery, the incubator opened inside the AARP exploring efforts like bringing VR to seniors.

The 2017 Technical.ly DC Awards (Photo by James Cullum)
Tech Startup of the Year
- Hatch, the D.C. startup empowering companies to launch apps that meet their needs. Cofounder Amelia Friedman said the company is continuing 2017 growth with more hiring.

Hatch team members accept the award for Tech Startup of the Year. (Photo by James Cullum)
Growth Tech Company of the Year

MPower Financing accepts the award for Growth Tech Company of the Year (with Technical.ly DC Market Editor Stephen Babcock)
- MPower Financing, the Dupont Circle student loan company that launched a $100M debt round and is expanding nationwide.
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