The Crunchies Award: An explanation

Here’s a look at the award (see left) that will be given to each category winner for the Crunchies tomorrow evening in San Francisco.

Before you start scratching your head (or armpit), here’s the background. The 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey featured a tribe of prehistoric ape-men, and how one of them first discovered a bone could be used as a tool and a weapon. He found he could crash other bones apart, and fend off enemies. It was the first use of technology. Michael Arrington came up with the idea to use it for the Crunchies, and watching this video clip of the movie again made me agree that it was a great idea. (If you watch the clip, it takes a couple of minutes to get to the bone-thumping part.)

Created by Clockwork Apple, the award is 14 inches tall and created in a very hard, very heavy cast plastic.

As Mike explains: “We are honoring startups that have innovated in technology; thus, we feel the award is symbolic culturally and appropriate. The additional flourishes, such as the baseball cap and jersey, were the idea of the artist to modernize the setting. And the ape is beating on old technology with his bone – a symbol of the disruptive nature of the technology world, where young startups often feast on their older, slower siblings.”

One award will go the winner of the twenty categories (21 categories actually, we have an additional surprise award). The winners’ logos will be added to the award.
Last night, we released the last few tickets we’d held back; if there are any left, they can be purchased here. The event starts at 7:30 at the Herbst in SF, and should end by 9. We’ll then have a party until about midnight.

Thanks again to sponsors: Adobe, Charles River Ventures, The Mayfield Fund, Microsoft, Our Stage and Sun Microsystems. Thank you also to our Program Sponsors, including Ask, Intel Capital, Lehman Brothers, Meevee, RealTimeMatrix’s Vortex, our official ticketing sponsor amiando, WeBreakStuff for design and MediaTemple for hosting.

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