Voting for the12th annual ad:tech awards is now open. Each year, ad:tech recognizes the most talented online designers and strategic thinkers in interactive marketing. Voting is now open through Friday, April 10.

The awards program is comprised of three award types: Limelight Awards, People's Choice Awards, and Industry Achievement Awards.

Entries for the Limelight Awards are reviewed and scored by an elite panel of judges. Each entry is judged on four areas: creativity, results based on objective, ease of use/clarity of message, and overall experience.

Finalists for the People's Choice Awards are narrowed down to seven Limelight categories within the Interactive Ads and Web Sites category groups. The People’s Choice finalists are made up of the top five Limelight entries. Voting is now open for public judging at the registration page.

There are a variety of finalists up for this year's People's Choice Awards, including: AT&T Bundles by Razorfish for Best B2B Online Display Ad; U.S. Air Force – Blackout by GSD&M Idea City for Best B2C Online Display Ad; Building Blocks Yahoo!Live by Arc Worldwide for Best New and Emerging Media Ad; Newairplane.com by SarkissianMason for Best B2B Marketing Web Site; WhatsYourLightingStyle.com by Keathley Advertising for Best B2C Marketing Web Site; "Flight of the Conchords: Lip Dub" by Deep Focus for Best Micro Site; and Sesamestreet.org by Magnani Caruso Dutton for Best User Defined Experience to name a few

Some of 2008's People's Choice Awards winners include: "Flight of the Conchords" by Deep Focus for Best Large Format or Overlay Ad; Motorola's Rockstarizer by Draftfcb for Best Next Generation Ad; Virgin America by ROKKAN for Best B2C Transaction Web Site; Business Breakthrough by Visa for Best B2B Marketing Web Site; and Funship Island by Razorfish for Best Micro Site.

Industry Achievement Awards are given to outstanding individuals who continue to inspire the industry.

Judges involved in the awards process are leaders in their own right. They bring expertise from companies such as AKQA, Ogilvy North America, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Organic, Microsoft, Nike, Google, and Twentieth Century Fox.

"The process of judging the ad:tech awards has been eye opening. To see the level of innovation and the results this innovation has created is inspiring and lights a bigger fire under me to produce even better work," said Sean Cheyney, an Executive Panel Judge and VP of marketing and business development at AccuQuote.

"The careful time and effort given to the judging process is more of a lesson of what is possible rather than a time consuming task. It's something that I looked forward to this year and can't wait until judging begins for next year," he added.

The 2009 ad:tech awards winners will be featured on the evening of Monday, April 20, and will be recognized in the ad:tech San Francisco event guide and in onsite signage.