The Shorty Awards honor the world’s top Twitterers. You can nominate as many people for as many categories as you’d like until midnight December 31st.

The Shorty Awards, much like the Top 50 Tweeple to Follow contest and the Twitties, is a contest where users nominate their favorite people for awards. The five contestants with the most votes go on to the final round where they are voted on by the Twitter world. Think of it as the Emmy Awards or the Oscars, but for Twitter.

To nominate someone for an award, send a tweet like “@shortyawards I nominate @user for a Shorty Award in #humor because…” through your client. You can also go to their homepage and supply your credentials and do it there, or click the link to send your tweet through the web interface.

The initial round of voting ends December 31st. The top 5 contestants for each category will be voted on between January 5th and January 14th. The winners will be announced in late January at a reception in New York, where they deliver an acceptance speech either in person or by video. It’s only fitting that they’ll have to do it in 140 characters or less.

If you like us and would like to nominate us for an award, you can do so here.

Yesterday Copyblogger announced its second Twitter Writing Contest. The first was announced in May with a prize of bragging rights and a 4gb Ipod Nano… and the response was overwhelming. The contest received more than 300 entries, required five judges and even caught the attention of the LA Times.

The second contest is stepping up the game with prizes already locked in for first, second and third place winners. And these prizes are epic! How epic? Let’s just say third place, at the lowest equivalent value, is worth roughly $59 per syllable.

Now that your interest has been picqued, here is what you have to do to enter: Tweet your best haiku and then cut and paste your haiku to the Copyblogger contest post before Midnight EST, Sunday, November 16, 2008.

Due to the short and simple format, Haikus are nothing new to microblogging and most people have written at least one back in elementary school, so there is no reason for not entering. Also, considering there is a Macbook Air up for grabs, why not (did we forget to mention that earlier)?

However, if you are looking for inspiration for your 5/7/5, you may want to check out @letteretcher, whose tweets are always formed as Haikus. For additional examples, there is always Twitter Search.

A complete list of rules are included in the official Copyblogger contest post. If you are interested in entering, I highly suggest reading the rules there instead of taking our word for it.

In a contest being run by TATA and NEN that claims to be “the first ever people’s choice awards for identifying, showcasing and supporting the highest-potential young companies in India,” a startup microblogging service has joined the fray.

Kwippy, a unique microblogging platform created by Dipankar Sarkar, is one of the startup nominees. Take a look at their nomination page and consider giving them a vote. You’ll need an account on the website to vote online, but you can also text HOT<space>106 to 56767.

What is TATA NEN Hottest Startups?

With an exploding economy and more and more high-impact startups flourishing in India, the TATA NEN Hottest Startup Awards aim to bring out the best of the best through community driven voting and a star judging panel. The winners will receive significant business support from the likes of IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, Microsoft and NEN, with possible admission to incubations and access to funds of over 50 lakhs ($100,000 USD) for each winner.

The startups are judged with the following characteristics in mind:

• Innovative in operations, product or service, or marketing
• Solving hard problems
• Gaining traction - either with increasing number of customers or in research and development
• Have the potential to reshape their industry
• Exhibit a great combination of passion & opportunity

Does Kwippy Have a Chance?

Though still in invite-only mode, Kwippy seems to be gaining traction in India and across the globe. They’ve already garnered themselves a community manager and have had Ping.fm integration since July. You could argue they haven’t really solved a hard problem, but they have added value to conversations with their unique take on microblogging. I’d also venture to say they’ve had a hand in helping to shape the microblogging industry as a whole with the features and functions they’ve designed.

Judging by the way things are shaping up so far I’m not sure they’re going to make the final shortlist, but its still great to see them nominated and making it into the public eye.

You can stop by and give them a vote or text HOT<space>106 to 56767 to show your support.

In the contest being run by Sarah Evans (@prsarahevans) to locate the top 50 Twitter users to follow, the winners have finally been announced. According to her blog, more than 900 voters cast their votes for over 2,500 nominated users. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t make the list because as Sarah mentions, this is an “unofficial” contest.

Read the full story