Punchbowl awarded ?Best Consumer Tech that Makes Life Easier? at the 2011 MITX Innovation Awards

Framingham, MA (PRWEB) June 22, 2011

Punchbowl, the one-stop site for start to finish party planning, has been selected winner in the category of ?Best Consumer Tech that Makes Life Easier? at the 2011 MITX Innovation Awards.

The annual MITX Innovation Awards program is the largest awards competition of its kind and celebrates innovations powering the future of marketing and revolutionizing the way we work and play. The MITX Award winners were announced in 11 general categories, several ?Best of? categories, the PricewaterhouseCoopers Promise Award, People?s Choice Awards for VC and Angel Investor of the Year. The sold-out ceremony was held on June 16th at the Westin Boston Waterfront.

?We created the Innovation Awards to give exciting digital and Internet companies a chance to showcase their ideas and creativity,? said MITX President Debi Kleiman. ?This year?s winners represent the very best of New England?s talent, and MITX is thrilled to honor their achievements.?

Punchbowl is the leading destination site for start to finish party planning. The site offers a modern, effortless way to plan a party with innovative features that include customizable online invitations, potluck organization, gift registries, local vendor search and much more. Punchbowl guides a host through all of the steps of party planning and solves common problems along the way. The site is extremely popular with moms and is ideal for summer gatherings, birthday parties, baby showers, holiday parties, and more.

?To be honored as the ?Best Consumer Tech that Makes Life Easier? is wonderful validation of what our customers have been telling us all along,? said Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO, Punchbowl. ?Innovation is at the heart of what we do at Punchbowl every day.?

Judges for the MITX Awards included over 100 industry professionals representing various disciplines including creative directors, designers, technologists, online media representatives, investors, and business professionals. The 2011 Innovation Awards were sponsored by Digitas, Isobar, DLA Piper, PricewaterhouseCoopers, The Atom Group, BostInnovation, ISITE Design, Metropolis Creative, TCN, and VentureFizz.

Sign up for free Punchbowl account at http://www.punchbowl.com

About Punchbowl Software Inc.

Punchbowl Software is the company behind the critically acclaimed website Punchbowl.com. Punchbowl is the one-stop site that helps smart moms and savvy professionals plan a party from start to finish. The site offers a modern, effortless way to plan an unforgettable celebration with party planning features including customizable online invitations, potluck organization, gift registries, local party vendors and much more. Punchbowl also licenses its technology to leading retailers such as Oriental Trading Company and 1-800-FLOWERS. Founded by software and user interface experts Matt Douglas and Sean Conta, the company is located in Framingham, MA and is backed by Contour Venture Partners and Intel Capital. To learn more, visit http://www.punchbowl.com/corporate

About MITX

Established in 1996, MITX -- the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange -- is the leading industry organization focused on the web and mobile, bringing together the digital marketing, media and technology community to engage in what?s next and how it will impact the marketing and business worlds. Connecting more than 7,500 professionals in New England, MITX is a dynamic community of thought leaders and collaborators in search of insight, education and opportunity. Creator of FutureM, MITX is located in Cambridge, MA. For more information, visit http://www.mitx.org/.

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Research For Life, a Whole Body Donations Company Headquartered In Phoenix, Arizona Recently Expanded Operations into Southern California

(PRWEB) June 09, 2011

Community Coordinator Elliot Hamilton says, ?We are here to fill a need for thousands of people who are interested in going beyond organ donorship, yet are unable to fulfill their desires with the current services available in southern California.? Donors in California and Arizona are pre-registering with Research For Life in advance to give themselves the peace of mind associated with donation.

Research For Life is currently the only whole body donations company in the United States to provide a, ?guaranteed donor program.? President of Research For Life, Garland Shreves states, ?Once accepted into our program, Research For Life will never refuse a donor even if one?s medical conditions change,? ?This guarantee gives donors and families the security knowing at the time of death a donor will not be turned away.? By providing clarity and compassion into the donation process families have become more inclined to sign up for the donation program.

?Whole Body donation is not organ transplant,? says Peter Hamilton the organizations VP of California Operations, ?It is rather anatomical tissue used for the research and development of pharmaceutical drugs, medical devices, and even to help train aspiring doctors.? Without donation, our healthcare system cannot make the types of medical advancements necessary to improve the quality of life for millions of people around the world. Currently there is a shortage of anatomical tissue, and without a steady supply of donors these types of medical advancements will not be made.

People have selected Research For Life over other donors companies because of their professional and compassionate staff, their 24/7 availability, free cremation, free body transportation, free filing of the death certificate, free urn and a offering to scatter a loved ones ashes at sea, all at no cost to the family.

Research For Life California is currently taking donors out of Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial Valley, Venture County and Santa Barbara. Research For Life California may be reached by calling 800-229-3244. Research For Life has been accepting donors in the Phoenix and Tucson area as well as nationwide since 2009.

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Keith Richards? Life and Walter Dean Myers? Here in Harlem Take Home Top Audies

New York, NY (PRWEB) May 25, 2011

The Audio Publishers Association (APA) announced the winners of the 2011 Audies? at its 16th Annual Audies Gala on May 24th at The TimesCenter in New York City. Often referred to as the ?Oscars of spoken word entertainment,? the Audies are the most prestigious awards program in the United States honoring audiobooks.

Bestselling author Adriana Trigiani (Big Stone Gap, Very Valentine) hosted the event. Presenters included filmmaker John Waters (Hairspray, Cry Baby), author Thomas Cobb (Crazy Heart) and a variety of talented voice artists and entertainers.

The coveted Audiobook of the Year award went to Life, the bestselling autobiography of Keith Richards, narrated by Johnny Depp and Joe Hurley with Keith Richards (Hachette Audio). The Audies jury selected the winning title for its multi-pronged marketing campaign that capitalized on Depp?s contributions and left no doubts that new audiobook fans were introduced to the format. Life was also recognized with an Audie in the Biography/Memoir category.

The Distinguished Achievement in Production award was presented to Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices, by Walter Dean Myers and narrated by a full cast including Muhammad Cunningham, Michael Early, Patricia R. Floyd, Kevin R. Free, Arthur French, Dion Graham, Nathan Hinton, Ezra Knight, Lizan Mitchell, Gail Nelson, Monica Patton, Robin Miles and Charles Turner (Live Oak Media). This award recognizes a production that represents the best the format has to offer in listening excellence. This celebration of Harlem beautifully presented by 13 distinguished narrators was accompanied by jazz music and sound effects to add to the sense of time and place, and impressed the Audies jury.

?This was yet another exciting and competitive year for the Audies,? said Janet Benson, APA President. ?We are proud to celebrate all of those who work hard to bring audiobooks to life and grateful to our listeners, who keep asking for more.?

Reviews and sound clips are available at http://www.TheAudies.com, courtesy of AudioFile magazine.

The 2011 Audie winners by category:

AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR

Life

By Keith Richards

Narrated by Johnny Depp and Joe Hurley (Featuring Keith Richards)

Hachette Audio

DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION

Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices

By Walter Dean Myers

Narrated by a full cast including Muhammad Cunningham, Michael Early, Patricia R. Floyd, Kevin R. Free, Arthur French, Dion Graham, Nathan Hinton, Ezra Knight, Lizan Mitchell, Gail Nelson, Monica Patton, Robin Miles and Charles Turner

Live Oak Media????

SOLO NARRATION?FEMALE

Alfre Woodard

Glorious

By Bernice McFadden

Audible, Inc.

SOLO NARRATION?MALE

Alan Cumming

Zorgamazoo

By Robert Paul Weston

Penguin Audio

NARRATION BY THE AUTHOR or AUTHORS

Emma Thompson

Nanny McPhee Returns

Macmillan Audio

MULTI-VOICED PERFORMANCE

Jitters ? A Quirky Little Audio Book

By Adele Park

Narrated by Adele Park and a full cast

Straight to Audio Productions

AUDIO DRAMA

Saint Joan: A Chronicle Play in Six Scenes and an Epilogue

By George Bernard Shaw

Narrated by Amy Irving, Kristoffer Tabori, Edward Herrmann and a full cast

Blackstone Audio

AUDIOBOOK ADAPTATION

No Country for Old Men

By Cormac McCarthy

Narrated by Sean Barrett

Naxos AudioBooks

BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR

Life

By Keith Richards

Narrated by Johnny Depp and Joe Hurley (Featuring Keith Richards)

Hachette Audio

BUSINESS/EDUCATIONAL

The Intelligent Entrepreneur

By Bill Murphy, Jr.

Narrated by LJ Ganser and Fred Berman

Audible, Inc.

CHILDREN?S TITLES FOR AGES 8 TO 12

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

By Jacqueline Kelly

Narrated by Natalie Ross

Brilliance Audio

CHILDREN?S TITLES FOR AGES UP TO 8

This Jazz Man

By Karen Ehrhardt

Narrated by James ?D-Train? Williams

Live Oak Media

CLASSIC

The Woman in White

By Wilkie Collins

Narrated by Roger Rees, Rosalyn Landor, John Lee, Judy Geeson, Gabrielle de Cuir, and Stefan Rudnicki

Blackstone Audio

FICTION

Winter?s Bone

By Daniel Woodrell

Narrated by Emma Galvin

Hachette Audio

HISTORY

Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic

By Gordon S. Wood

Narrated by Robert Fass

Audible, Inc.

HUMOR

Old Jews Telling Jokes

Edited by Sam Hoffman and Eric Spiegelman

Narrated by Sam Hoffman with Eric Spiegelman and an ensemble cast

HighBridge Audio

INSPIRATIONAL/FAITH-BASED FICTION

Fireflies in December

By Jennifer Erin Valent

Narrated by Kate Forbes

Recorded Books

INSPIRATIONAL/FAITH-BASED NON-FICTION

In a Heartbeat

By Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy, with Sally Jenkins

Narrated by Leigh Anne Tuohy, Sean Tuohy, Kathleen McInerney, and Rick Adamson

Macmillan Audio

JUDGES AWARD - PARANORMAL

Beautiful Creatures

By Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Narrated by Kevin T. Collins

Hachette Audio

LITERARY FICTION

Snakewoman of Little Egypt

By Robert Hellenga

Narrated by Coleen Marlo

Tantor Audio

MYSTERY

The Reversal

By Michael Connelly

Narrated by Peter Giles

Hachette Audio

NON-FICTION

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By Rebecca Skloot

Narrated by Cassandra Campbell with Bahni Turpin

Random House Audio/Books on Tape

ORIGINAL WORK

The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane?s Mike Hammer, Vol. 2

By Max Allan Collins, from a story by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins

Narrated by Stacy Keach and a full cast

Blackstone Audio/Falcon Picture Group

PACKAGE DESIGN

The Very Best of Bob and Ray

By Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding

Narrated by Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding

Designed by Sandy Ackerman and Jim Tierney

HighBridge Audio

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Put On Your Crown: Life-Changing Moments on the Path to Queendom

By Queen Latifah with Samantha Marshall

Narrated by Queen Latifah

Hachette Audio

ROMANCE

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bront?

By Syrie James

Narrated by Bianca Amato

Recorded Books

SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY

The Stainless Steel Rat

By Harry Harrison

Narrated by Phil Gigante

Brilliance Audio

SHORT STORIES/COLLECTIONS

Stories

Edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio

Narrated by Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Peter Francis James, Katherine Kellgren, and Euan Morton, with an introduction by Neil Gaiman

HarperAudio

TEENS

The Rock and The River

By Kekla Magoon

Narrated by Dion Graham

Brilliance Audio

THRILLER/SUSPENSE

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet?s Nest

By Stieg Larsson

Narrated by Simon Vance

Random House Audio/Books on Tape

For more information, contact Kaitlin Friedmann at (609) 297-2215 or kfriedmann(at)audiopub(dot)org.

About Audio Publishers Association (APA)

The Audio Publishers Association (APA) is a not-for-profit trade organization whose primary goals are to promote awareness of the audiobook industry, gather and disseminate industry statistics, encourage high production standards, and represent the interests of audiobook publishers. Since 1986, the APA has worked to bring audio publishers together to increase interest in audiobooks. Please visit http://www.audiopub.org for more information.

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