The Technology Association of Iowa (TAI), a nonprofit dedicated to growing Iowa's tech industry, and its event co-sponsor, LWBJ Financial, announced today the finalists for the 2012 Prometheus Awards, an event billed as "the technology industry's premier celebration of extraordinary achievements among high-tech businesses and individuals."

More than 40 companies and individuals are up for recognition, with several companies we've covered on Silicon Prairie News making the list of finalists, including Clickstop (three categories), Dwolla (three categories), T8 Webware (two categories), ActiveGrade and Bettrlife, which is up for "Outstanding Startup Company of the Year" even with the fact its iOS app didn't appear in the app store until earlier this month.

Leann Jacobsen, president of TAI, said the organization received a record number of submissions. "These nominations included one of the most highly competitive pools to-date and include many new names from across Iowa," Jacobsen said in a release today. "I think people will be excited about the companies and the technologies that have made it to the finalist stage."

The Prometheus Awards will be help on April 11 at Veterans Memorial Community Choice Credit Union Auditorium in Des Moines. More information and tickets ($100 for non-TAI members, $89 for TAI members) can be found at technologyiowa.org.

2012 Prometheus Award Finalists

Software Company of the Year (Small/Medium)

• Cyber-Anatomy Corp (Iowa City)
• GlobalVetLink (Ames)
• Proplanner (Ames)
• T8 Webware (Cedar Falls)
• Visual Logic (Waterloo)

Software Company of the Year (Large/Enterprise)

• Alliance Technologies (Des Moines)
• Webfilings (Ames)

IT Service Provider of the Year

• Involta (Cedar Rapids)
• Ovation Networks, Inc. (Cedar Rapids)
• Zirous-Oracle Partner-Systems Integrator (West Des Moines)

Clean Technology Company of the Year

• GlobalVetLink (Ames)
• Ovation Networks, Inc. (Cedar Rapids)
• Submittal Exchange (Des Moines)

Best User of Technology

• ActiveGrade LLC (Iowa City)
• Live Healthy America
• Merit Resources, Inc. (Urbandale)
• Ovation Networks, Inc. (Cedar Rapids)

Innovation in Teaching

• CDS Global (Des Moines)
• Cyber-Anatomy Corp (Iowa City)
• Kacia Cain (Des Moines Public Schools - Central Campus) (Des Moines)
• Holly Baiotto (Van Meter Community School District) (Van Meter)

CIO/CTO/CSO of the Year

• Frank Livaudais (CDS Global) (Des Moines)
• Brian Naaden (Iowa Telecom)
• Brad Rasmussen (GeoLearning)

CEO of the Year

• Dawn Ainger (Genova Technologies) (Cedar Rapids)
• Tim Guenther (Clickstop) (Urbana)
• Charles Link (NewLink Genetics) (Ames)
• Matt Miller (MobileDemand) (Cedar Rapids)
• Ben Milne (Dwolla) (Cedar Rapids)

Student Innovation of the Year

• Iowa Medical Innovation Group (Iowa City)
• Mazira, LLC (Iowa City)
• Stackd (Iowa City)
• Targetclick Marketing Solutions (Cedar Falls)

Break Out Award

• Dwolla (Des Moines)
• Greengrade (Des Moines)
• NewLink Genetics (Ames)

Outstanding Startup Company of the Year

• BettrLife (Des Moines)
• Cyber-Anatomy Corp (Iowa City)
• Far Reach Technologies (Cedar Falls)
• Greengrade (Des Moines)

Top Growth Company of the Year

• Clickstop (Urbana)
• Genova Technologies (Cedar Rapids)
• GlobalVetLink (Ames)
• Visual Logic (Waterloo)

Life Sciences Company of the Year

• Exemplar Genetics LLC (Sioux City)
• Harrisvaccines, Inc. (Ames)
• NewLink Genetics (Ames)
• Terpenoid Therapeutics Incorporated (Coralville)

Technology Company of the Year (Small/Medium)

• Cyber-Anatomy Corp (Iowa City)
• Dwolla (Des Moines)
• GlobalVetLink (Ames)
• Ovation Networks, Inc. (Cedar Rapids)
• T8 Webware (Cedar Falls)

Technology Company of the Year (Large/Enterprise)

• CDS Global (Des Moines)
• Clickstop (Urbana)
• MobileDemand (Cedar Rapids)
• Webfilings (Ames)