For a long time now, MAKE has wanted to find some way to publicly acknowledge companies that have responded in a positive way to the growing influence of maker/hacker culture. In 2006, we published The Maker’s Bill of Rights, and since then we have often been involved in exposing and lampooning particularly egregious affronts to the principles of open access to technology that it embodies.

But we would really prefer to be using a carrot, rather than a stick, and this year we are very pleased to announce the first ever MAKE Magazine Industry Maker Awards, aka “The Makeys.” Over the months leading up to Maker Faire New York 2011, four companies will be nominated for awards in each of four categories—Most Repair Friendly, Most Hackable Gadget, Best Product Documentation, and Best Education/Outreach Program—with the winner in each to be determined by open polling of the MAKE readership. Winners will be announced at Maker Faire NY 2011, and the awards themselves will be designed by an open contest in collaboration with and MakerBot Industries.

If you have suggestions for nominee companies in any of these categories, please feel free to leave us a comment, below, or e-mail us directly, and tell us why!