Calling all innovative enterprise IT startups: The Tech Trailblazers Awards have officially opened for entries at www.techtrailblazers.com.

The Tech Trailblazers Awards represent the first independent initiative to recognize and reward enterprise technology startups in a global arena. Innovative, young companies from around the world are invited to enter the awards for the chance to win much more than just a logo and a press release. The prizes include business-development products and services worth thousands of dollars from an estimated $1 million prize fund, as well as expert advice in the form of VC and CTO mentoring.

The Tech Trailblazers technology categories include: big data, cloud, infosecurity, mobile, networking, storage, sustainable IT and virtualization. In addition, there is a special “emerging markets” category for enterprise tech startups in those technology categories from geographical regions where IT industries are rapidly growing, such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS).

Stephen O’Donnell, chairman of the Tech Trailblazers Awards judging panel and consultant, analyst, author and blogger at The Hot Aisle, said, “Tech Trailblazers is designed for everyone to be a winner. The category leaders will deservedly get their certificates and trophies as well as significant industry recognition – they also get exclusive attention, coaching and mentoring from leading VCs and CTOs. However, all entrants, regardless of how well they do in the competition, get valuable prizes and services designed to help grow and develop their companies. Tech Trailblazers has deliberately set out to become a unique part of the startup ecosystem, helping young, job-creating businesses with growth, publicity and business development.”

The Tech Trailblazers Awards prize fund, projected to be worth in excess of $1m, is supported by sponsors and industry partners including MIT/Stanford Venture Lab, the Cloud Security Alliance, Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), Prezi, Startup America, RealWire, Lissted, Launchpad Europe, MyNewsDesk, and ExecEvent.

All entrants to the Tech Trailblazers Awards  get the chance to present their technology to some of the IT industry’s eminent influencers from around the world. The extensive judging panel reflects the Tech Trailblazers’ pioneering “community spirit” approach to enterprise IT awards.

The Tech Trailblazers Awards celebrate innovation in the following enterprise IT areas: big data, cloud, emerging markets, mobile technology, networking, IT security, data storage, sustainable IT and virtualization. The early-bird submissions fee is $250 with a deadline of August 17th at 11:59pm PT. Entry forms should be submitted before the final closing date of September 12th for consideration by the expert panel.

For more information and to download an entry form, please visit www.techtrailblazers.com.

To join the Tech Trailblazers as a sponsor, please email [email protected].

To be added to the mailing list to receive the latest updates, please email [email protected].

Follow the Tech Trailblazers Awards on Twitter @techtrailblaze or using hashtag #TTAwards.