The Colorado Chamber of Commerce wants big, small, and tiny manufacturers to enter their products in the second annual Coolest Thing Made in Colorado contest.

Last year’s entries included a Roaring Fork finalist: the Marble Distilling Company in Carbondale. According to Marble’s website, the process uses “100% Colorado grains, pure Crystal River Water,” and filters spirits through crushed, 99.5% calcite marble from the quarry in nearby Marble.

“The Coolest Thing contest presents an exceptional chance for manufacturers across Colorado’s diverse regions to put their best creations on display, and we encourage nominations of local products from the Roaring Fork Valley to compete for the title of Coolest Thing Made in Colorado,” said Colorado Chamber President and CEO Loren Furman.

The deadline for nominations is Aug. 21. Last year, there were 130 nominees. An independent judges’ panel reviews nominations and chooses 10 finalists in September. They are honored at the chamber’s annual Oct. 19 luncheon, where the winner is announced and receives a Coolest Thing trophy.

FirstBank is a sponsor and Chief Risk Officer David Kelly is a judge.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Colorado Chamber of Commerce to celebrate and recognize the state’s most innovative manufacturers,” he said in a statement.

Last year’s finalists included an ejection seat described as “a critical life-saving device for military fighters, bombers, and trainer aircraft.” Collins Aerospace manufactures the ACES Ejection Seats in Colorado Springs. The company claims the ejection seats have saved more than 800 pilots and air crew. Meier Skis’ handmade, customized skis made it into the finals.

The winner was Innovative Rocky Ford-based Water Technologies’ SunSpring Hybrid water purification system. The purification system provides safe drinking water in America. The chamber describes SunSpring Hybrid as a “portable, solar- and wind-powered, self-contained, microbiological water purification system” capable of producing 5,283 gallons of water daily.

SunSpring is making for disaster victims worldwide and helps schools, hospitals, humanitarian projects, and villages in 38 countries.

“Anyone can nominate a product, but the product must be made in Colorado, and it must involve manufacturing,” Chamber Advocacy Director Teresa Busk told The Aspen Times. “It can be a small batch manufacturing process. We welcome small businesses as well as big.”

Nominations can be submitted at coolestthingcolorado.com/nominations.

This story is from AspenTimes.com.