Four hundred geeks in formal wear gathered in the basement of the Free Library of Philadelphia Sunday night, in a diverse tribute to the city’s biggest nerds.
That’s right, the 2016 Philly Geek Awards went down this Sunday, even though it seemed unclear if they were going to happen at all this year, due to the ceremony’s constant growth and the challenges it posed. But then Technical.ly and Generocity joined forces with long-time organizers Geekadelphia to make the awards happen.
“If there’s one thing we know, it’s dangerous to go alone,” Geekadelphia editor Mikey Ilagan wrote in a blog post back in July.
It was an evening of thunderous applause, nervous speeches, acceptance videos and even Pokémon sightings. And thanks to the high geek ratio in the audience, there are many more moments from the lavish evening under #PhillyGeekAwards on Twitter.
The ceremony also proved to be an echo of its own community: women and people of color — or initiatives led by them — won 10 of the 14 categories of the evening.
From the seats of the Library’s auditorium we saw Stephan Grupp, a medical researcher at CHOP, take home the Scientist of the Year accolade for his work on pediatric cancer. We heard the entire room clap for 11-year-old Rad Girl Marley Dias as she accepted, in a prerecorded video, the award for Movement of the Year for #1000blackgirlbooks.

"Black stories are about black lives. And black lives matter," said @iammarleydias in her acceptance video. pic.twitter.com/7z4bj6QPS9

— Technical.ly (@Technical_ly) October 17, 2016

That pint of ice cream that sorta made it to space landed Partnership of the Year, in a joint venture between the Workshop School and Little Baby’s Ice Cream.
Fresh from their latest media shoutout, BioBots landed the much sought-after Startup of the Year award, for its 3D-printed tissues, while the “Eternal Winner” of Philly Startup Leaders’ BBQ won again (shocker!): Yasmine Mustafa landed the Technologist of the Year prize (and later broke it, smh).

Confession: I stumbled on my heels as soon as I left the library and broke my award. #PhillyGeekAwards @TechnicallyPHL @NextFab_PHL #klutz pic.twitter.com/g3PMGBTkSu

— Yasmine Mustafa (@myasmine) October 17, 2016

Food Connect took home Dev Project of the Year (full disclosure: this reporter presented that award), while Cipher Prime’s Tailwind: Prologue was recognized as Game of the Year.
For the final and most awaited recognition of the evening — and following a purposefully long intro speech by former recipient Ather Sharif — Azavea’s Kathryn Killebrew landed the Geek of the Year award for her civic-tech achievements.
(Before we leave you with the full list of geeks, here’s a quick shoutout to our sponsors: Wildbit, StartUp PHL, NextFab and Yikes Inc. We appreciate your support.)

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Here’s who won:

Comic Creator of the Year:

• Maki Naro

Give it up for Comic Creator of the Year: Maki Naro! #PhillyGeekAwards pic.twitter.com/SmCZP2Q0VL

— Technical.ly (@Technical_ly) October 17, 2016

Maker of the Year:

• South Fellini

Scientist of the Year:

• Stephan Grupp

Feature Length Indie Film of the Year:

• Ghostheads

Movement of the Year:

• #1000BlackGirlBooks

Mission Leader of the Year:

• Chris Lehmann

Impact Org of the Year:

• Community Futures Lab

Community Futures Lab takes home the #PhillyGeekAwards to North Philadelphia! pic.twitter.com/g65MGkZJdt

— Technical.ly (@Technical_ly) October 17, 2016

Partnership of the Year:

• Ice Cream in Space

Startup of the Year:

• BioBots

The Startup of the Year Award was presented by @StartupPHL's @ArchnaSahay, and the winners are:

@BioBots! #PhillyGeekAwards pic.twitter.com/Tmfmk9TolY

— Technical.ly (@Technical_ly) October 17, 2016

Technologist of the Year

• Yasmine Mustafa

Technologist of the Year Award goes to @ROARforGood's @myasmine #PhillyGeekAwards pic.twitter.com/uawX0J0iZG

— Technical.ly (@Technical_ly) October 17, 2016

Dev Project of the Year

• Food Connect

Game of the Year

• Tailwind: Prologue

Geek of the Year

• Kathryn Killebrew

Bonus track: here’s a quick vid with all the awesome geeks who made it this year: