Social media has changed all communication paradigms. People and organizations are innovating the ways they connect to each other. Bidirectional communications models, in which organizations spread their news and actions through different tools and receive an almost instant feedback from their consumers are now taking over and digital technology and social media give us a chance to create amazing viral campaigns with costs close to zero.

Mashable is valuing the innovation and the achievements of companies, people and projects in the digital and Social Media area with the Fourth Annual Mashable Awards (formerly known as Open Web Awards). In this opportunity there are 25 categories. Some of them are “Most Creative Social Media Campaign,” “Must-Follow Brand” and “Must-Follow Personality”.

For this year’s awards, Mashable designed a viral nomination platform. The process of election will last three months, starting with the nomination stage, then the voting period and finally the winners announcements. The awards ceremony will be held on January 6^th, 2011, at Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity stage in Las Vegas.  

The nomination period started on September 27^th and finished on November 29^th. During that period, any person, company, brand, website could nominate and be nominated. Then, there were selected the TOP 5 Nominees of each category, based on the total nominations and editorial judgment. The voting period started on December 1^st and will be finished on December 15^th. Anyone can vote once a day per category. The winners announcement will take place at the Mashable Awards Gala on January 6^th, 2011.

If you want to learn more and cast your vote,  check http://mashable.com/awards/pages/about