Microsoft Corp. has announced the winners and finalists of its 2009 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards. The annual awards honor Microsoft Registered, Certified and Gold Certified partners for delivering exemplary solutions for their customers during the past year. Award winners and finalists were chosen from nominations from around the world.

2,000 entries were submitted by partners worldwide; the award finalists and winners were selected from a group of nominations based on their dedicated use of Microsoft technologies to provide solutions for their customers' needs.

"Partners are the key to igniting business innovation through great technology as well as helping customers drive down costs," said Allison L. Watson, corporate vice president of the Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft. "Congratulations to the 2009 Partner Award winners, who have demonstrated a superior level of expertise as well as a focus on delivering customer value. We look forward to seeing these partners fulfill their limitless potential as they continue to provide customers with world-class Microsoft solutions."

Categories, winners and finalists appear below. A complete list including category descriptions is available here.