The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) and The Wall Street Journal have announced the first annual Business Traveler Innovation Awards. Slated to be officially awarded on Monday, August 9 at the 2010 NBTA International Convention & Exposition, the ceremonial presentation pays homage to those services, products and ideas which have helped make business trips easier and more productive. Based on input from business travelers, submissions were categorized and ultimately voted upon.

The line-up of awards and award-winners include:

Travelers’ Choice Award: The 2010 NBTA Business Traveler Innovation Travelers’ Choice Award goes to Continental Airlines for the Mobile Boarding Pass, introduced in December 2007 and enabling customers to display a 2D bar code along with passenger and flight information on their mobile phone (eliminating the need for a paper boarding pass). The airline was also recognized as topping the category of Travel Personalization.

Sustainable Practice: Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s energy-efficient thin client terminals receive the nod for outstanding and original environmental efforts in the travel industry. Use of the new ECARSTM 2.0 system technology reportedly enables Enterprise to cut its annual carbon dioxide emissions by 6.5 million pounds.

Traveler Comfort and Well-Being: The Heavenly Bed by Westin Hotels and Resorts earned winning accolades in the category of products/services that focus on travelers’ ease and well-being. To date, nearly 40,000 Heavenly Beds, 100,000 pillows, more than 32,000 sheets, and more than 10,000 signature Heavenly spa amenities have been sold.

Meetings & Conventions: Hyatt (Hotels) Meeting Promise took top honors for solutions that optimize event success for corporate planners and/or attendees. The policy states that if the meeting planner’s expectations in terms of the service and/or quality of a meeting at a hotel are not met, Hyatt will immediately take steps to resolve the problem to the satisfaction of the meeting planner, and/or refund a portion of the master account with a credit for future use.

Outstanding Apps: TripIt’s Travel Organizer led the field of nominations regarding applications that help business travelers organize and/or make best use of their time on the road. Via the “Itinerator,” users can reportedly forward confirmation e-mails from more than 1,000 different booking sites to automatically get a master itinerary with all travel plans, plus maps, directions, weather, etc.

Travel Convenience & Efficiency: National Car Rental’s Emerald Club takes top honors for services that expedite the travel process. Emerald Club membership provides benefits and services designed to get travelers on their way faster, while earning a choice of free rental days or hotel or airline points/ miles with National’s frequent travel partners.

Business Collaboration: Cisco Systems’ Show and Share led all nominees in terms of platforms that keep business travelers connected to people and projects around the world. This social video system is aimed at helping organizations create and manage highly secure video communities to share ideas and expertise, optimize global video collaboration, and personalize the connection between customers and employees with user-generated content.

Traveler Productivity: In the realm of “solutions that keep mobile executives productive,” Apple, Inc.’s iPad came in ahead of all others. The tablet computer — a portable device intended to fill the gap between the smartphone and a traditional computer — has been crafted to support HD video and offers 802.11n Wi-Fi connectivity and Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR support, as well as an accelerometer, compass, speaker, microphone and Apple standard 30-pin connector.

Judges’ Selection Award: To be determined.

The top 10 submissions will be featured at the Business Traveler Innovation Pavilion at the NBTA Convention, where attendees can demonstrate and learn about products and services recommended by their colleagues. A panel of travel celebrity judges will evaluate the featured innovations to determine the 2010 Business Travels Innovation Judges’ Selection Award winner.