The Atlanta Startup Community is now accepting nominations for its inaugural Atlanta Startup Awards. The awards recognize and celebrate Atlanta's most successful rising tech companies, startup pioneers and disruptive innovators. Nominations will be accepted through Friday, March 31.

In its first year, the awards will honor startups and entrepreneurs in the following eight categories:

• Best B2B Startup

• Best B2C Startup

• Best Social Impact Startup

• The Art of the Pivot

• Scrappiest Startup

• Top Community Builder

• Top Impact Player

• Lifetime Achievement

"The Atlanta startup ecosystem has steadily grown to become not only a bright star in our local business community, but a top ten city for startups in the entire country," said Charlton Cunningham, Executive Director of Startup Atlanta. "We couldn't be more excited to celebrate the great work happening in our city for what we hope will be the beginning of a tradition for years to come."

Nominee qualifications, as well as the submission forms, can be found on the Atlanta Startup Awards website. This year's finalists will be recognized at a ceremony at The Gathering Spot on May 12.