A photo from the .NYC domain campaign (gothamist.com)

If the "Made in NYC" label wasn't enough to cement your status as an integral part of the burgeoning local tech community, perhaps a .NYC domain name might pique your interest. Luckily for enterprising young founders hankering to swap .ly or .co for a cooler extension, the New York Times reports today that the city is seeking a contract with a Virginia-based company that could bring us closer to finally landing .NYC's.

We first reported on the city's continued pursuit of .NYC domain names last June, when NYC EDC president Seth Pinsky told us that the new domain could offer local businesses and the city unique opportunities to establish New York as a beacon of innovation.

Now that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has approved .NYC as a domain extension, the city is in talks to establish a five-year contract with a Virginia company that would, according to the Times, "apply for the domain and operate and market it on the city’s behalf. The company would pay the upfront costs, and the city would get a share of revenue." Not only would we get our much-desired .NYC domains, but the city is also slated to make at least $3.6 million from the deal.

Scoring its own domain has been a New York pipe dream for a while. A campaign started by Connecting.nyc Inc. last year helped push the desire for .NYC's into the mainstream. The .NYC Domain site argues, "The greatest city in the world deserves its own domain extension." Here, here.

If you thought the 212 area code was an elite Manhattan status symbol, just wait until .NYC is unleashed upon the masses. According to Coactivate, if everything goes according to plan, we could all be fighting over the .NYC extension as early as Spring 2013.

We're totally down to jump on the bandwagon. Betabeat.nyc, anyone?