We’re gearing up for the GeekWire Awards, May 9 at the EMP in Seattle, and today we’re pleased to announce that the keynote speaker at the event will be Chris DeVore — the startup veteran and angel investor who has played a key role in the advancement of the Seattle region’s technology community through initiatives including TechStars Seattle and the Founders Co-op investment fund.

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Chris DeVore at last year’s GeekWire Awards.

Given the size of this annual event, the keynote traditionally sets the tone for the entrepreneurial community. DeVore is a past honoree at this event, having won Investor of the Year last year. We’re excited to have him take the stage to share his insights and perspective from decades in the trenches, before we hand out this year’s slate of awards.

Speaking of those awards: Today is the last chance to cast your vote in all 14 categories. We won’t be revealing the winners until May 9, but we can say that the competition is very close in many of the categories, so be sure to vote if you haven’t. Here’s a list of categories and finalists.

Click through below to vote in any category that you might have missed as we rolled them out. As a reminder, these finalists were determined by our slate of judges from hundreds of nominations from across the tech community.

Young Entrepreneur of the Year, presented by Appature. Finalists: Lucas and Lee Brown, HasOffers; Aviel Ginzburg, Simply Measured; Kyle Kesterson, Freak’n Genius; Denny Luan and Cindy Wu, Microryza; Dan Price, Gravity Payments.

Next Tech Titan, presented by Wave Business Solutions. Finalists: Apptio, INRIX, SEOmoz, Urban Airship and Zulily.

App of the Year, presented by Fresh Consulting: Finalists: Glympse, Haiku Deck, Walk Score, Zillow Digs and Dwellable.

Perk of the Year, presented by Kibble & Prentice. Finalists: Buuteeq, DoubleDown Interactive, Groundspeak, HasOffers and SEOmoz.

gwawardsDo-Gooder of the Year, presented by Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Finalists: Artie Buerk, UW philanthropist; Edward Jiang, StudentRND; Michael “Luni” Libes, Fledge; Marc Nager, Startup Weekend; Hadi Partovi, Code.org.

Startup CEO of the Year, presented by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Finalists: Sam Blackman, Elemental Technologies; Christian Chabot, Tableau; Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz; Liz Pearce, LiquidPlanner; Kabir Shahani, Appature.

Game of the Year, presented by Filter. Finalists: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive; DoubleDown Casino; Halo 4; Hawken; and Match-Up.

Bootstrapper of the Year, presented by HasOffers. Finalists: Adam Doppelt and Brenda Spoonemore, Dwellable; Steve Murch, BigOven; Matthew Matsudaira, Adorii; David Niu, TinyHR; and Sunny Singh, Edifecs.

Innovation of the Year, presented by Intellectual Ventures. Finalists: Chirpify, Hointer, Innovega, Planetary Resources, and Puzzazz TouchWrite.

Startup Deal of the Year, presented by UK Trade & Investment. Finalists: Appature; Madrona; Qumulo; Smartsheet; and Zulily.

Geekiest Office Space, presented by Knoll. Finalists: 47 Degrees, Appature, Globys, Killer Infographics and Simply Measured.

Hire of the Year, presented by Summit Group Solutions. Finalists: Jeremy Jaech, Charlie Kindel, Blake Krikorian, Scott Porad and Matthew Schiltz.

Geek of the Year, presented by Barokas PR. Finalists: Oren Etzioni, Adam Loving, Rebecca Gardner, Kate Matsudaira and Ramez Naam.

Startup of the Year, presented by Flinn Ferguson Corporate Real Estate. Finalists: Apptentive, Buuteeq, Context Relevant, Haiku Deck and Simply Measured.

Thanks also to additional event sponsors, DoubleDown Interactive, SEOmoz, Exsilio Solutions, and supporting sponsors Killer Infographics, Bootstrapper Studios, and Babson F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business.

We have some fun surprises in store for the night, plus plenty of great food, drink and networking in addition to the event on the main stage. We’re expecting to sell out of tickets, so be sure to get yours today.

This event — started by Seattle entrepreneur Marcelo Calbucci as the Seattle 2.0 Awards— is now in its 5th year. Past winners have included Tableau Software, PopCap Games, angel investor Andy Sack, Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh, Zillow’s Rich Barton and many others.

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