What’s new, cool in Atlanta?

And the winners are ... in the spirit of awards season, we offer our inaugural Phoenix Awards, highlighting what’s hip and happening.

May we have the envelope, please. Wait, don’t throw it at us! We’re as bored as you by the endless rinse-and-repeat cycle of Hollywood awards shows leading up to the Academy Awards on Feb. 22. At least last Sunday’s Grammys relieved the monotony a bit. (How ’bout that Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance race!)

So naturally, we’ve joined in. Our inaugural Phoenix Awards let us publicly acknowledge things in metro Atlanta that are new and now “It.”

Like Atlanta itself, which rebounded post-Civil War to host an Olympics and its very own “Real Housewives” franchise, the winners show the power of imagination and reinvention. And of getting guys who can shoot threes (see “Best Original Score” below).

Unlike the Oscars, which you have to watch on TV, our winners all offer “go and do” opportunities. (But we did steal Hollywood’s categories. Hey, why reinvent the rinse cycle ...)

BOB ANDRES / BANDRES@AJC.COM Alpharetta has taken advantage of its recent explosive growth by creating the now four-month-old Avalon, an Atlantic Station-style development that’s like a self-contained small town with high-end shopping.