Frankly if they have someone in attendance, it is hard to imagine not winning. That response is very different from initial emails I have seen. It means someone is going now.
As for what it means today, there is no telling. Down the road you have a claim to being the 2014 Future Materials awardee. Handy when it comes to marketing.
Probably a given for at least one of the categories.
Way to dig deep and complain about something that would be nothing but positive about the company that you have invested your hard earned money into. Makes total sense to me.