Broomfield-based eSoft Inc. won SC Magazine’s “Best Buy” designation for the second consecutive year. Competing in the magazine’s Unified Threat Management group test, eSoft’s InstaGate 604 network security product received the highest possible score with an overall 5-star rating in each of six categories: Features, Ease of Use, Performance, Documentation, Support and Value for the Money.

Cyndra Dietz, schools coordinator for Eco-Cycle Inc., received the Enos Mills Lifetime Achievement Award from the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education on March 2. The annual award is given to an outstanding individual for long-term accomplishments in environmental education. Dietz was honored for her 33-year commitment to environmental education in Boulder County, including service since 1990 with Eco-Cycle’s Boulder/Broomfield County School Recycling and Environmental Education Program.

Boulder-based Sierra Designs’ Flash 2 tent received a 2013 Backpacker Magazine Editors’ Choice Award in recognition of the tent’s design, performance, and ventilation. The tent is impressed editors with its quick set up and comfortable living space. The Flash 2 uses Sierra Designs’ exofusion technology, which combines an external pole configuration with an integrated rain fly to cut weight, speed set up, enhance ventilation, and increase interior space.