It may have been a chilly, rainy evening, but the atmosphere was warm and festive inside New York’s Gotham Hall as the DatacenterDynamics Awards North America unfolded to honor the industry’s most noteworthy contributions within the region. With a heavy focus on innovative practices, awards were handed out in 11 categories from the more than 200 submissions.

The DatacenterDynamics Awards began in Europe seven years ago recognizing significant contributions to the data center industry across the EMEA regions. Last year’s inaugural North America awards were held in San Francisco.

“DCD’s awards are all about leadership and innovation”, said Zahl Limbuwala, founder and ex-chairman of the BCS Data Centre Specialist Group: “Despite our constraints and our highly risk-adverse nature, we have managed to transform our industry over the last 10 years in ways that would astonish you.”

“We are not just another energy-consuming industry to be shot at by the Greenpeace’s of the world”, he added as an example, highlighting that many of the awards recognize efforts to improve efficiency and lower energy consumption.

Digital Realty, the co-location and data center services giant, received two awards during the evening, cashing in on the same project in different categories. The firm also took home an award during the inaugural North America event, for improved data center energy efficiency.

Following is a list of last night’s winners in each category:

Future Thinking & Design Concepts: Siemens - Not all Low Voltage Switchgear is Created Equal: The must-have option for every Switchgear

Data Center Blueprints: Sabey Data Centers - Intergate.Manhattan

Innovation in the Medium Data Center: Digital Realty - ARM Holdings North American High Performance Center

Innovation in the Mega Data Center: Oracle - Breakthrough Innovations in Large Data Center in Cold Climate

Innovation in the Outsourced Environment: CyrusOne - CyrusOne National IX

The Green Data Center: Digital Realty - ARM Holdings North American High Performance Center

Improved Data Center Energy Efficiency: Yahoo - Yahoo Quincy Data Center Air Flow Optimization Project

Innovation in IT Optimization: Fidelity Investments - Achieving IT scale that passes value onto the customer

Young Mission Critical Engineer of the Year: Dropbox - David Fiedler, PE

Data Center ‘Special Assignment’ Team of the Year: RagingWire Data Centers - RagingWire Commissioning Task Force

Outstanding Contribution to the Industry: John Tucillo, VP Schneider Electric, former President and Chairman, The Green Grid

Mike Hagan, VP of Data Center Services for Schneider Electric – the event’s headline sponsor – delivered the keynote address, and acknowledged the value of the contributions each of the night’s nominees provides to the data center industry as a whole:  “These are the people who lead innovation and create success”, he declared.