NPower Awards

We can't resist a good awards ceremony (heck, we're suckers for bad ones too) so we happily attended the annual NPower Technology Innovations Awards late last week at the National Association of Homebuilders on 15th St. They fall into the "good" category, by the way, because they recognize non-profits who creatively use technology to advance their mission.

NPower Greater DC Region president Julie Chapman with Agilex's Tim Hoechst and Microsoft's Stuart McKee. Stuart spends his days talkin' IT with government officials. "Sometimes we discuss how Microsoft can help them, but to be completely honest, that's not always the case," says Stuart, who returned home last weekend to Washington State for a rare quiet weekend with his two kids.

Northern Virginia Family Service's Peter Yamaguchi (no relation to the figure skater) and NPower New York president Peter Gordon. Peter tells us he just moved to Northern Virginia from Hawaii, where he grew up. We love NoVa as much as anyone, but seriously, Peter?

The entertainment: Howard University's a cappella jazz ensemble Afro Blue. Award winners for the afternoon were Peace X Peace and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Peace X Peace created an open source online platform for sharing information about best practices to advance women's causes and peace across the world, while Elizabeth Glaser was honored for creating a system designed to combat slow Internet speeds and limited infrastructure in the 18 countries where it operates.