“This is the single most important confluence of technology geeks!” exclaimed one of the GeekWire presenters.

And on that note, the GeekWire Awards got underway.

It was a perfect blue-sky Thursday evening when a sold-out crowd of 800 corralled at Seattle’s EMP Museum to rub elbows, swap biz cards and cheer on this year’s nominees. The evening was an impressive gathering of the top players and companies in a bustling startup community that, if you’re part of, makes you feel kinda proud and tingly.

A group of us from LiquidPlanner were there to cheer on our CEO, Liz Pearce, who was nominated for Best Startup CEO of the Year. The 14 nomination categories were geekily creative, and included: Hire of the Year, Geekiest Office of the Year (Killer Infographics), Perk of the Year (SEOmoz, where employees receive a $3000/year vacation stipend), Do-Gooder of the Year, Hire of the Year, and more.

While we didn’t take home the “Golden Joystick” trophy (Sam Blackman of  Elemental Technologies did), a couple things need to be said:

First, A+ people watching. GeekWire’s festive event showed off a bustling and bright community of people who are making Seattle one of the top 5 startup cities in the world (recession, what recession?).

Second, we don’t want to peak too soon. Liz, we’re madly proud of you!

Next year, GeekWire Awards, next year.

Read up on who got what at the GeekWire Awards.