St. Louis Inno is accepting nominations for its annual Fire Awards, with several new categories included in this year's program to focus on celebrating the full life cycle of startups and innovation.
Nominations are due June 1. The Fire Awards are St. Louis Inno’s premier recognition program, honoring the companies and organizations setting the local innovation economy ablaze. This will mark the third year in which St. Louis Inno has staged its Fire Awards. Previous honorees have included startups, entrepreneurs, corporate innovators, entrepreneur support organizations and investors.
This year, we redesigned the program's categories to better spotlight startups and innovators at different parts of their entrepreneurial journey. The 2024 Fire Awards categories are:
- Startups on Fire — Firms under five years old: In this category, our awards program intends to highlight younger startups that have achieved key milestones that will make them enduring, sustaining companies. Milestones could include funding rounds, hiring, product launches and more.
- Startups on Fire — Firms more than five years old: This category seeks to celebrate startups that are more mature in their development and have recorded milestones that have helped them grow and advance. That could include product and business expansion, increased headcount and revenue and profitability growth.
- Fire Starters/Community Builders: In this category, our awards program will honor the groups building a sense of community within St. Louis’ innovation economy. Honorees could include nonprofit organizations, investors, networking groups and events, and education institutions.
- Top Deals: Our Top Deals category will recognize startups and investors that have recorded financial deals, including M&A deals and funding rounds.
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Through the Lifetime Achievement award, St. Louis Inno's 2024 Fire Awards will recognize an individual who has made remarkable contributions to the St. Louis startup and innovation ecosystem.
Nominations for the Startups on Fire, Fire Starters/Community Builders and Top Deals categories can be submitted here. Nominations for the Lifetime Achievement Award can be made here.
All honorees for both awards programs must be based in the St. Louis area, which includes the city of St. Louis and St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson, Franklin, Lincoln and Warren counties in Missouri, as well as Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair counties in Illinois.
For questions about the Fire Awards programs and its nomination process, contact St. Louis Inno Editor Nathan Rubbelke at nrubbelke@bizjournals.com.
