Update (December 18th): The nominations for the social networking awards are now open - click here to visit the nominations page.
Just a quick intro to say that Mashable is hosting a web-based "Social Networking Awards" competition over the coming weeks. The aims are pretty simple: remind ourselves of some of the excellent startups that launched this year, find your favorites and discover some up-and-coming social networks for 2007. Will MySpace, YouTube and Facebook reign supreme, or are you favoring the fun startups like SpliceMusic, Webjam and FanNation?
Major networks, niche networks and social networking add-ons will all be eligible in various categories, and I'll provide more details once nominations begin next week. In the meantime, feel free to post some early suggestions in the comments - better still, pimp your own network or service (you've been doing it all year, but now I'm giving you permission!).