Pitch your hot mobile startup at MobileBeat 2011!

It’s that time of the year again: VentureBeat’s MobileBeat 2011 conference is coming up on July 12 – 13 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. This year our theme is “Who wins in the 4G nirvana?” We’ll be focusing on the rise of 4G and what it means for every aspect of the mobile industry.

This year we’re looking to showcase the top 20 companies with the coolest mobile ideas. You can sign up for the MobileBeat 2011 competition here.

We’ll have two categories: 1) applications, and 2) infrastructure/services. We’re selecting the top 18 companies, and we’re letting readers nominate the other two.

At the MobileBeat event on July 12-13, the 20 finalists will demonstrate their product for five minutes on stage. Then an expert panel and the audience will choose the winners of the competition. Winners will receive our coveted Tesla award (named in honor of Nikola Tesla, the scientist who discovered early mobile communication) along with other prizes yet to be announced.

On June 21, we’ll cut off the nomination process, and notify the winners by June 28. (If you want to remain in stealth until the competition, just let us know in the sign-up form). We’ll give special consideration to startups that are launching new products.

We’ll also have a contest for GamesBeat 2011. For sponsorships, send a message to sponsors@venturebeat.com.