Next up for voting in The Flashies is "Stunt of the Year," one of the most fun categories in our 2010 TechFlash Newsmaker Awards. This is where the offbeat creativity of the region's tech community -- or at least the tech industry's PR professionals -- really shines through.

And thanks to the wonders of online video, it's also a category where you can witness many of the nominees first-hand to decide who gets your vote. Continue reading for those videos and more background on each nominee, and cast your vote for the one you consider most deserving of this very prestigious honor.

Want to know who wins? Join us Dec. 1 at the Experience Music Project for the big Flashies bash, where we'll be handing out awards in more than a dozen categories and taking a fun look back on the year in tech.

Voting will continue on TechFlash throughout this month, so check back each weekday for a new category. A big thanks to sponsors BDO and Filter, and media sponsor VentureBeat for helping make the Flashies possible.

Amazon's Woot deal announced by rapping puppet monkey: We've seen press releases and news conferences and conference calls. But never before had we seen a company do anything like this to announce a major corporate deal. Who knew mergers and acquisitions could be so catchy?

Bellingham strings city in yarn for Google Fiber pitch: Communities around the nation responded with publicity stunts galore in response to the search giant's call for applications to roll out high-speed Internet networks. But few were as good as this slick video from Bellingham, Wash.

Cirque du Soleil launches Xbox 360 Kinect: Having been there in person, I can say that this elaborate unveiling for Microsoft's motion-based game control system was one of the strangest technology product launches ever produced. In the end, it succeeded in being pretty cool, or at least in being memorable.

hi5's Alex St. John wrestles a Facebook sumo: The former Microsoft and WildTangent executive defined the word "stunt" when he shaved his entire body and took on world-champion Sumo wrestler Byamba to symbolize his battle against the giant of social networking, Facebook.

Microsoft celebrates Windows Phone with iPhone funeral march: This parade on the Microsoft campus was meant to be a way for Microsoft's Windows Phone team to blow off steam and celebrate their product launch, but it ended up making headlines when the video showed Microsoft's pallbearers carrying a representation of the iPhone in a casket.

RealNetworks courts Gnomedex crowd with vuvuzelas: We don't have video or audio of this, thankfully, but we got a kick out of RealNetworks capitalizing on the World Cup craze by embracing one of the sport's more obnoxious traditions -- the vuvuzela. The company handed them out at the Gnomedex conference, prompting a wide range of reactions.

Starbucks finally rolls out free WiFi: Not a stunt, in the traditional sense, but certainly an attempt to grab the attention of people who had become flummoxed over the years by the coffee giant's overly complex rules and limitations on wireless access in its shops. The debut of free and simple wireless access across the Starbucks chain was a prelude to the rollout of the company's new in-store digital network.

T-Mobile TV ad claims largest 4G network, disses AT&T: When it comes to stunts, this ad from T-Mobile USA was a trifecta -- spoofing Apple, poking fun at AT&T, and unilaterally upgrading the Bellevue-based wireless provider's HSPA+ network from 3G to 4G simply by deciding it qualified for the designation.

Tickets for the Flashies event on Dec. 1 available here.

Previous Categories, Voting Still Open: No Longer Stealth Award ... Innovation of the Year... Buzzword of the Year... Newsmaker of the Year... Tech Debacle of the Year ... Tech Platform of 2010 ... Breakout Performance of 2010 ... Tech Move/Hire of the Year ... Startup Deal of the Year.