And not a moment too soon. I, for one, have been biting my fingernails again - an old habit rekindled by the gnawing need to know who is among the top 3 in each category for the prize of the year, the Creative Coast Alliance Innovation Award, sponsored by Lott + Barber. If you are as impatient as I am, you’ll be pleased to know that our five esteemed judges have made their decisions.

It was no simple task, but our independent panel of local and regional judges toiled and labored for hours on end, tirelessly deliberating over nearly 100 Savannah innovators across six categories including Community, Emerging Business, Existing Business, Government, Education and Sustainability. Locked in a room like jurists in the O.J. trial, they fed, sleepless, on half-eaten donuts and stale coffee, muddling through piles of applications from top notch candidates in a brave attempt to narrow the competitive field.

Here are the quickdraws still standing when the dust cleared:

Emerging Business Category
Who: Farmer D Organics
What: A line of organic gardening products and consulting services to build organic community garden programs
What you should know if you only know one thing: Farmer D offers the first certified Biodynamic Compost on the market made from green waste from Whole Foods Market. Now, why didn’t I think of that?

Who: Federal Surveillance Integrators
What: The MCAD System
What you should know if you only know one thing: The MCAD system is a technology that locates, identifies and quantifies potentially hazardous gaseous elements at commercial ports and throughout larger industries. Yep, that’s a Savannah business developing cutting edge safety and security technologies.

Who: JodyJazz Inc.
What: The DV and DV NY Series of 24 kt. gold-plated saxophone mouthpieces
What you should know if you only know one thing: They introduce a secondary window in a sax mouthpiece which increases the harmonics in the mid and bottom sections of the sonic spectrum and improves the efficiency of breath passing through the mouthpiece. Um, I’m speechless.

Existing Business Category
Who: Architectural Building Systems
What: Architectural and environmental improvements to off-site-built homes
What you should know if you only know one thing: Working outside the preconceptions of modular housing, ABS projects incorporate lowcountry architectural vernacular, environmentally sound practices (you know I’m a fan) and a cost-effective, time saving process that revolutionizes the potential of off-site-built housing.

Who: Gulfstream Aerospace
What: New Research and Development Center
What you should know if you only know one thing: Gulfstream’s new Research and Development Center will conduct research on composite materials, acoustics (including sonic boom suppression), advanced flight deck technology and advanced cabin technology utilizing nearly 200,000 square feet of offices and laboratories. Ok, I’ll admit, this one’s way over my head.

Who: Smart Feet
What: Non-invasive, non-medical solutions to improving foot support
What you should know if you only know one thing: Smart Feet increases consumer access to orthotics and orthopedic footwear and provides an affordable, non-medical solution for seniors, diabetics and others in need of better foot support. I (honestly) own a pair and they’re amazing. Worth every penny.

Government Category
Who: Chatham County Information and Communication Services
What: Property Sales System
What you should know if you only know one thing: Helping meet demand from residents with a program that provides up-to-date property sale information by increasing sharing of data across departments and make data more readily accessible to the public though a web-based system.

Who: The Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Department
What: SCMPD’s E-police Software
What you should know if you only know one thing: The E-Police Software allows the public to track crime in their neighborhoods over the past 28 days within a radius of five miles. So ounds like something out of “Robocop.”

Who: The Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Department
What: SCMPD’s Savannah Area Regional Intelligence Center (SARIC)
What you should know if you only know one thing: SARIC has created a web-based product that is unique to the SCMPD that streamlines the sharing of information on wanted persons, wanted vehicles, crime patterns and other valuable information for police officers, and the format is now being copied by law enforcement agencies around the country. Wait, SCMPD vs. SCMPD? Hmmm.

Sustainability Category
Who: Farmer D Organics
What: A line of organic gardening products and consulting services to build organic community garden programs
What you should know if you only know one thing: Farmer D offers the first certified Biodynamic Compost on the market made from green waste from Whole Foods Market. Congrats to D - nominated for two categories!

Who: Salt Creek, LLC
What: Barbour Pointe, a sustainably developed community
Why: Barbour Pointe is the first development of its kind to incorporate low impact site development, independently certified energy- and resource-efficient homes, community solar power generation, and conservation easement preservation of riparian buffers and green spaces in a pristine coastal environment. AKA the location for this year’s Georgia Conservancy Oyster Roast (shout out).

Who: Southern Environmental Law Center
What: Free legal assistance to environmental organizations along the Georgia coast
Why: A non-profit, donor supported, public interest environmental law firm, the SELC is the only regional public interest law firm in the South whose mission is to exclusively protect the natural resources and special places in the region. I must recuse myself from comment ’cause I love these folks so much.

Education Category
Who: Savannah Country Day School
What: SCDS’s LEED certified Lower School
What you should know if you only know one thing: Savannah’s first LEED certified school will house grades 1-5 starting in the 2008/2009 school year. Building a better school for a better education, that’s so warm fuzzy.

Who: Savannah Technical College
What: The solar generator and photovoltaic program
What you should know if you only know one thing: Part of STC’s electrical program curriculum for the past year, the solar generator and Photovoltaic Technical Certificate of Credit teaches students how to support, update and maintain solar-powered electrical units. Students become familiar with the engineering required for solar units, and discover the importance of solar energy as a renewable resource for the future. Ahem, see recent article on future economic impact of green jobs. Way to be ahead of the curve, guys,

Who: University of South Carolina Beaufort
What: The Creative Re-Purposing of Education Technology: Class capture system Tegrity 2.0
What you should know if you only know one thing:: The Tegrity program records, stores and indexes classes on campus, making them available to students online, with digital notes on their iPods and cell phones. Quite possibly the one thing that gets my sister through college.

Community Category
Who: Savannah Music Festival
What: Ongoing success producing one-of-a-kind musical events
What you should know if you only know one thing:: Through its unique, culturally diverse productions, the SMF has stimulated arts education while simultaneously fostering regional economic growth and generating a comprehensive economic impact of $25 million by bringing together artists and audiences from around the globe. OMG, can you please get Andrew Bird at the festival this year?!

Who: Chatham County Safety Net Planning Council
What: The Health Information Exchange Project
Why: The Chatham County Safety Net Planning Council, a private non-profit collaborative, represents a network of key healthcare providers and stakeholders supporting uninsured and under-insured county residents.  In addition, the Council serves as the Step Up Savannah’s Poverty Reduction Initiative Healthcare Action Team.  The Council’s Health Information Exchange Pilot Project is building the foundation for health information exchange by promoting the adoption of electronic medical records and e-prescribing by community healthcare providers in Chatham County - a technology that will improve the effectiveness of health care and enhance disease reporting in the county.  Health information exchange improves the coordination of healthcare delivery and expedites the exchange of patient health information while respecting the privacy and rights of patients.

Who: Union Mission, Inc.
What: A multi-disciplinary approach to promoting wellness and self-sufficiency
Why: As the region’s leading social service provider, UM offers an array of supportive services through a single provider - minimizing frustration and wasted resources - and has been a pioneer in proving that making services readily available saves community money by reducing strain on emergency rooms and hospitals treating the uninsured.

On behalf of the Creative Coast Alliance, I want to thank our esteemed panel of judges who have put forth oodles of energy, thought and difficult decision-making. And thank you to all of the 100+ nominees for the 2008 Innovation Awards. Your tenacity, ingenuity and freshness not only makes Savannah a world class city but it shapes our future. And, of course, thanks to our event sponsor, Lott + Barber, who makes this event possible.

Wait, you don’t have a ticket yet? Well, get on it. It’s not too late. We hope to see you on October 24th at the Roundhouse Museum when we crown our top innovators.

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