Congratulations to all the companies and folks that won and participated in tonight’s get together in Knoxville. This event is part of Global Entrepreneurship Week UnleashingIdeas.org along with WillThisFloat.com.

First Annual Knoxville Overground Awards
In conjunction with KO/EOK Entrepreneurial Lollapooloza 2008
and Global Entrepreneurship Week

Rules:

1. All nominees must reside at least 30 miles from downtown Knoxville.
2. All businesses must adopt a “triple-bottom line” philosophy – meaning they a) are profitable, b) endeavor to not have an adverse impact on the environment, and 3) seek to improve the quality of life for people.
3. Nominations must be received through knoxvilleoverground@gmail.com before November 10, 2008.
4. Individuals cannot nominate themselves or a company they own.

Award Descriptions:

PINK Excellence in Entrepreneurship for Women Award
This award is given to a female entrepreneurial executive that best exemplifies the values of KO such as building community, public service, and demonstrating innovation in business leadership.

PINK WINNER: April Cox, President and Cofounder of Efficience for http://www.flockgps.com

GREEN Successful Green Startup Award
What company in Knoxville was one of the early adopters to the emerging green industry boom that has already experienced tremendous success?

GREEN WINNER: James “Vig” Sherrill, President and CEO of Aldis; http://www.aldiscorp.com.

WHITE Model Nonprofit Entrepreneur Award
Nonprofits and grassroots organizations bear the same degree of challenges as for-profit ventures. This award is given to an individual who has over the past three years started up either a nonprofit or a grassroots organization from scratch that benefits the community in an innovative way that was only possible with the entrepreneurial spirit of its visionary.

WHITE WINNER: Monika Miller, Community Organizer for Green Drinks; http://www.greendrinks.org.

RED Power to the Persistent Award
Entrepreneurs are known for their drive and determination. By the time most people would have given up, these “bulldogs” are just getting started and never give up on their vision. This honor is given to the individual who has overcome what seemed to be insurmountable odds but yet still came out on top.

RED WINNER: Gavin Baker, CEO of http://www.abunga.com.

BLUE Best Patent of 2008 Award
Inventors are abundance around Knoxville. What’s been the most exciting patent to be filed in 2008 in Knoxville and by whom?

BLUE WINNER: Chris Clark, Nexnet Corporation; http://GetThePearl.com

BLACK Elevating Intrapreneurship Award
Being your own boss isn’t the only way to get involved with a successful venture. Several corporations now of days have to stay on the cutting edge of their learning curve as they continuously explore new emerging markets and develop new brands and products to meet those demands within their organization. Who is the a model entrepreneurial employee, or a model team of a company that helps their company position itself for embracing change?

BLACK WINNER: Scripps Networks, http://www.scripps.com & Chad Parizman (to receive the award on behalf of the team at Scripps)

ORANGE Inspiring Website Startup Award
It’s never been a better time to startup a website business now that after the dot com boom we have plethora of case studies regarding what works and what doesn’t. What’s a Web site startup in town, either established or in development, that inspires us with its design, marketing, and the value it provides us?

ORANGE WINNER: Will Overstreet, Founder & CEO of Voices Heard Media; http://www.voicesheardmedia.com/

BROWN Minority in Entrepreneurship Award
Nominate a minority that you know of that our community regards as a recent and successful entrepreneur.

BROWN WINNER: Santiago Ramirez and Stephanie Ramirez, founders of Copal Creative Communications; http://www.copacreative.com.

YELLOW Community Organizer for Innovative Collaboration Award
Which organization or individual in the community is one of the highest regarded for bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, and visionaries together to discuss emerging markets, business, and entrepreneurship?

YELLOW WINNER: Leonoard Knight, Founder of Entrepreneurs of Knoxville (EOK); http://www.eokhq.com

SILVER Overground Platinum Award
Which tech company / person has done more to help put Knoxville on the map as a “up and coming” entrepreneurial hub for tech startups and small business do to national and possibly international media recognition?

SILVER WINNER: Patrick Hunt, CEO of Tingz; http://www.tingz.net

GOLD Overground Gold Award
Like King Midas, as if they all touch turns into gold, this award is given to a startup in the Knoxville / Oak Ridge region that started with relatively little to no capital investment upfront at their birth and yet is now earning a substantial return.

GOLD WINNER: Spruz; http://www.spruz.com

PURPLE Best in Biotech Award
What’s the biotech company that seemed to hit the ground running and provides an innovative solution in the market with room for rampant scalability?

PURPLE WINNER: Dr. Edward Sobek & Assured Biotechnology Corporation; http://www.assuredbio.com

TEAL Medical Device Startup Award
What’s the top startup in 2008 that demonstrated creativity, caring, and business savvy with a technological development in the medical industry?

TEAL WINNER: Joseph L. Ortiz & 4D Medical Systems Inc.

Find out more at KnoxvilleOverground.com

Check out who is speaking.  Fellow Geek South Member!!

FellowTip.com founder Eric McCarty will present the story of his Internet start-up. FellowTip officially launched in June, though the start-up process began over 2 years earlier. Come hear Eric describe the idea germ, pat-ent application, business formation, sleepless nights, de-pleted bank account, and the famed “Garage Lock-In” which took 11 pounds off the founder in 9 days! Learn what to expect, what to do, and what not to do when that new earth-shaking idea hits you in the middle of the night!

Meeting location:

Southwest VA Technology Development Center

141 Highland Drive, Lebanon VA, 24266

For any questions shoot an e-mail to lebanonitcommunity@gmail.com.

Come on out for our 4th monthly area IT gathering. This month we will be checking out the latest in cell and smart phone technologies. An AT&T 8525 and Blackberry 8830 will be on display. Also, bring your own phones and feel free to demonstrate your phone’s capabilities and favorites features. Additionally, we will discuss future meeting dates, topics, survey results, and an organizational name. Please note that our meeting location and format has changed.

Meeting location:

Bonanza

1029 East Main Street, Lebanon, VA

For any questions shoot an e-mail to lebanonitcommunity@gmail.com.

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WHAT: WncDotNet is a newly formed developer group dedicated to promoting Microsoft .NET technology and education to the software developer community near Asheville, NC and the surrounding area. Aside from often having great items to give away, monthly meetings will offer refreshments and professional networking and educational programs.

WHEN: Meetings are held on the 2nd Tuesday of every month from 6 to 8:30 PM . Kickoff meeting is May 13^th.

WHERE: At ImageSmith Communications, located near Asheville at 19 Walden Drive in Arden (near the intersection of Sweeten Creek, Hendersonville, and Airport roads). See www.imagesmith.com for a map and directions.

WHO: Anyone interested in .NET software development is invited to join the group. For more details, or to join, please browse the WncDotNet website at www.wncdotnet.com. If you have an interest in helping to steer or sponsor the group or making presentations at meetings, please contact WncDotNet via the website or call Dave Kolb at 828-398-0694.

I know next-to-nothing about Knoxville so I won’t attempt to post a Google Maps link.  However feel free to leave more info in the comments.

Also, make sure you are following @geeksouth on Twitter as we’ll try to keep that current with events.  If you have an event you’d like us to post and twitter about send an e-mail to geeksouth05@gmail.com or direct twitter @geeksouth.

Leveraging Flash as a desktop development platform great for startups and mature businesses who need graphical interactive experiences at a fraction of the cost of custom developments.  I’ll be showcasing the software I managed (computer games for speech language pathologists) and how I helped start the company with accompanying business services including printing and disc manufacturing.

We will be meeting at Fun Expedition in Johnson City.  That’s right.  Fun Expedition.  Batting cages, Go-Carts, the whole works.  Make sure you come ready for some Geek Laser Tag.

Fun Expedition is located at 2805 North Roan Street in Johnson City (Google Map).

Update: Eric McCarty has added a set of photos to Flickr from our time at Fun Expedition.  You can see those here.  It was an awesome presentation and an awesome time.