After weeks of nominations from the community, the MITX Innovation Awards finalists have been announced.

The Massachusetts Technology and Innovation Exchange (MITX) will be holding its annual Innovation Awards event on June 12, a chance to honor the state’s most innovative businesses. In March we announced that nominations had opened for this year’s awards, with four new categories above and beyond last year.

“We had a record-breaking number of entries this year – a sign that the digital marketing, media, and technology industry in this region is thriving,” said Debi Kleiman, MITX’s President, in a release. “These finalists represent some of the best products and companies on the scene today. We hope that everyone passionate about innovation and about making great ideas come to life will join us at the ceremony to celebrate these finalists and take part in this dynamic community.”

The fate of the finalists is in the hands of the MITX judges now, with the winners to be announced at the awards ceremony. Over the next few weeks we will be diving into each one of the companies so you can get to know them a little more. For now, here are the 2012 MITX Innovation Award finalists:

Best “Doing Good” Innovation

  • Academic Room
  • Gazelle
  • Participatory Culture Foundation
  • Practically Green
  • ScreenRetriever
  • Temperature@lert

Best Bootstrapped Start-Up

  • Bluetrain Mobile
  • CraveLabs, Inc.
  • KangoGift
  • Raizlabs
  • Temperature@lert
  • ZOORA

Business Operations Simplifier

  • aPriori Inc.
  • DynamicOps
  • LaunchSquad for OfficeDrop
  • LiquidPixels, Inc.
  • Locately
  • TraceLink Inc.

Best Commerce Transformer/Game Changer

  • Cartera Commerce, Inc.
  • LiquidPixels, Inc.
  • Modiv Media, Inc.
  • Privy
  • SCVNGR, Inc
  • Zmags

Best Consumer Tech that Makes Life Easier

  • Lifeables
  • SavingStar
  • Springpad
  • True Fit
  • Tymefly
  • Ziptr

Best Contribution to Innovation by a University/College

  • Boston College
  • Harvard Innovation Lab
  • Northeastern Entrepreneurs Club

Best Customer Engagement Driver

  • Affinnova, Inc.
  • HubSpot Inc.
  • Pangea Media/ SnapApp
  • TalkTo
  • Vsnap
  • WordStream, Inc.

Best Mobile App

  • Brainshark, Inc.
  • EverTrue
  • Kaon Interactive
  • Nuance Communications
  • Springpad
  • TripAdvisor

Best Mobile Solution

  • Brainshark, Inc.
  • Crashlytics
  • Modo Labs, Inc.
  • Nexage
  • SCVNGR, Inc
  • Staples, Inc.

Best Use of Game Mechanics

  • Alleyoop
  • Bullhorn
  • Practically Green
  • The Tap Lab

Best User Experience

  • Apperian, Inc.
  • Brass Monkey
  • fresh tilled soil
  • HubSpot Inc.
  • Nuance Communications
  • TripAdvisor

Best Wellness Innovation

  • Ginger.io
  • GymPact
  • ScreenRetriever
  • Segterra

Most Insightful: Analytics/ Business Intelligence

  • Crashlytics
  • InsightSquared
  • Locately
  • True Fit
  • WordStream, Inc.
  • Yieldbot
You can read more stories on Boston startups, technology and innovation at https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/inno