Congratulations to the winners of the 2011 TechFlash Newsmaker Awards (the “Flashies”) announced on December 1st.  As selected by readers of TechFlash, the technology news site based in Seattle (affiliated with the Puget Sound Business Journal), the winners are:

• Newsmaker of the Year: Kathy Savitt, CEO of Lockerz.
• VC Deal of the Year: Avalara (software for managing sales-tax collections).
• Newcomer of the Year: ChoozOn (deals website).
• Story of the Year: Kindle Fire release by Amazon.com.
• Big Deal of the Year: Microsoft’s purchase of Skype.
• Tech Platform of the Year: Windows Phone Mango (smartphone OS).
• Mobile App of the Year: Group Health Mobile (app for patients).
• Gaming Development of the Year: ZipLine (mobile-game company).
• Do-Gooder of the Year: R2integrated (internet marketing group).
• Innovation of the Year: UW AIDS-researchers’ use of “FoldIt” online game to solve a scientific mystery.
• Youth of the Year: W.A.S.A.B.I. Robotics (high school team winners of international robotics competition).

An impressive group all-around.