I am getting ready to head down to the 16th annual Industry Achievement Awards, the Washington Technology Industry Association's big bash of the year. But before I trek over to the Showbox Sodo, there's one last minute piece of business to handle.

Yep, that's right. Time for my predictions of who will take home the prizes. As you may recall, my track record over the years has been less than stellar. (Last year, despite some scientific calculations, I went a miserable two for seven with my picks). But, I am back this year, baby. So, watch out.

Anyway, without further ado, here's who I think will win in seven of the nine categories.

Commercial Product or Service of the Year: DocuSign; Isilon Systems; thePlatform for Media, Inc.

This has got to be the easiest pick of the night. How can't you give it to Isilon? The company sold for $2.25 billion last year to EMC, by far the biggest technology deal of the year in the state. As we've seen in the past, the WTIA judges sometimes like to pick the underdogs. But, that won't happen this time. And if it does, I may have to join Todd Dean on a Speedo run through downtown Seattle.

My Pick: Isilon

Winners: Isilon and DocuSign

Consumer Product or Service of the Year: Bonanza; Logos Bible Software; Swype.

It seems like Logos Bible Software gets the nod in this category every year, but I don't think divine intervention will help this year against Swype. The Seattle startup, which allows mobile phone users to easily input text with the Swype of a finger, is on a major roll.

My Pick: Swype

Winner: Swype

Service Provider of the Year: Concur; HasOffers; Hubspan.

I am going to fall back on logic that has hurt me in the past, choosing the biggest company in the bunch. That happens to be Concur, which has developed a service to help companies manage and track travel and entertainment expense reports. That's hardly sexy stuff, but it is the one product of the group I've actually used.

My Pick: Concur

Actual Winner: Has Offers

Best Early Stage Company of the Year: Ground Truth; Lockerz; Off & Away, Inc.

This is always a tight, but fun race. After all, how do you really judge the best early-stage company of the year? Revenues, nah. Profits, nope. Product, too subjective. This is kind of like an Oscar race. I would have said that Ground Truth had the momentum at the beginning of the year, but its early release is hurting its chances with judges. Off & Away also had some big buzz, but I think it is going to be Lockerz which moves into the top spot with a last minute surge.

My Pick: Lockerz

Actual Winner: Ground Truth

Best Seed Stage Company of the Year: Sparkbuy; SPARQCODE.COM; WhoCanHelp.com.

First off, is seed-stage really that different from early-stage? No really sure what the difference is, but who cares. It's just good to get some recognition for some young startups. I've written about all three of these companies, and I think they each have a compelling story. Dan Shapiro at Sparkbuy is a likeable guy -- kind of like the George Clooney of Seattle tech. Sparqcode's technology is super cool, creating an easy way for local merchants to connect with customers via social media. But at the end of the day, I think the two "spark" companies will cancel each other out and WhoCanHelp.com (a former Startup of the Week company at TechFlash) will win.

My Pick: WhoCanHelp

Actual Winner: Sparqcode

Innovative Manufactured Product of the Year: Intermec Technologies Corporation; Precor Incorporated; XKL.

Ok, just to be honest. Here's where we get into the crap shoot portion of the competition. I don't know these companies very well. So, it is time to utilize the Henry dog test. Henry, my 80-pound flat-coated retriever, helped me pick some of the categores last year. And I employed the food-motivated mut (he once ate a full cantaloupe, rind and all) again this year by placing treats on three scraps of paper with the names of the companies listed. Henry appears to prefer Precor in this case, so we'll go with that.

My Pick: Precor

Actual Winner: XKL

Best use of Technology in the Government, Non-profit or Educational Sector: CityClub - Living Voters Guide; OpenDataKit.org (part of UW/CSE); Washington State Ferries.

Once again, I employed the Henry dog test in this category -- using onion-flavored potato chips instead of dog treats. Henry seems to like the chance of the Washington State Ferries, but I think he's going to miss this one. I am going against my best friend's pick -- fatal error, I know -- and going with the CityClub Living Voter's Guide.

My Pick: CityClub

Actual Winner: OpenDataKit

There are two other categories being awarded tonight. Technology Leader of Tomorrow: Gizan Gando of Asa Mercer Middle School (sixth grade), Tyler Wong of Asa Mercer Middle School (sixth grade), Mariah Fernandez of South Shore K-8 (seventh grade). And the Award for Excellence in Teaching: Barbara Franz, Moses Lake School District (math); Nancy Pfaff, Lake Washington School District (math); Debra Strong, Everett School District (science); Dawn Sparks, Thorp School District (science).

But high-achieving teachers and students are all winners in our book.

TechFlash is proud to be a sponsor of this year's event. Congrats to all of the nominees. See everyone at the party later tonight, and check back later for the actual winners.

UPDATE: Once again, Henry dog and I didn't fare so well with our picks. We went just two of seven, accurately picking the two biggest categories but stumbling on the others. Oh well, there's always next year.