Do you know of a person or a project that you think should be recognized for their contribution to open source or free software? Why don’t you nominate them for a Free Software Award?
On Thursday, the folks at Free Software Foundation announced that nominations are open for this year’s Free Software Awards.
Each year since 1998, the FSF — an organization that predates the term “open source” by more than a decade, and which can be considered ground zero for the open source explosion that followed — hands out three awards in three categories:
- The FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software goes to an individual, who during the previous year has done something that’s helped advance free software in a way that’s appropriate to “the spirit of the community.”
- The FSF Award for Projects of Social Benefit is awarded to an organization or team that brings free software principles to a project that “intentionally and significantly benefits society in other aspects of life.”
- The Award for Outstanding New Free Software Contributor is presented to a newcomer to free software or open source who’s exhibited a dedication to software freedom. “The award recipient must have made their first significant free software-related contributions in 2024 and show a pattern of ongoing activity” FSF says of this award.
Nomination are being accepted until March 5 at 11:59 EST, or a minute before the stroke of midnight. If you’re not connected with FSF and you’re wondering if you can nominate someone anyway, you absolutely can.
“Anyone can nominate,” Greg Farough, the FSF’s Campaigns Manager told FOSS Force. “You do not have to be an FSF associate member to nominate. You do not even have to have an account on our website; we want everyone in the free software community to participate, so we open this as wide as possible.”
Which is exactly what you’d expect from an organization that’s founded on the principle that “software freedom” is simply an extension of all other freedoms.
Farough said that after the nominations are in they’ll be sifted through a committee who’ll decide who’ll win the coveted prizes.
“The award winners are decided by a committee made of past award winners,” he said. “Some of these people won last year; there is at least one who won nearly twenty years ago. It is open to any past award winner in any category. They vote as a group to decide who wins this year. Majority vote wins.”
The nice thing about this approach is that it’s a case of free software history making free software history.
“Someone who won the 2022 Project of Social Benefit award may vote together with someone who won the 2019 Free Software Advancement award to decide who wins this year’s Outstanding New Contributor award,” Farough pointed out.
Who to Nominate… and How
From looking at FSF’s website, it’s obvious that the organization considers these open nominations to be an important part of the awards process, so if you know someone who fits one of the award categories that you think deserves a thumbs up from the community, you might as well nominate them.
“There’s no better way to show a member of the free software community that you appreciate their efforts than by nominating them for a Free Software Award,” the organization said in its announcement. “Whether you’re new to the free software community or have been around since the beginning, we ask you to take the time to show your appreciation for a particular member or project’s commitment to software freedom. By nominating someone, you send the message that you appreciate their vital work.”
Any person or organization that takes home a trophy will be in good company. Previous winners include Karen Sandler in 2017, the Executive Director of the Software Freedom Conservancy; Matthew Garrett in 2014, for his work to keep “Secure Boot” compatible with open source; and Deborah Nicholson in 2018, for her advocacy for political information, freedom of speech and assembly, and civil liberties. There are more that you probably know if you’re a dyed-in-the-wool open sourcer — too many to mention.
To make a nomination, all you have to do is click on one of the links below and you’ll be taken to the nominations page for that particular award:
- The FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software
- The FSF Award for Projects of Social Benefit
- The Award for Outstanding New Free Software Contributor
At this point you might be wondering what happens after the nominations are in and the committee has voted. When and how will the winners be announced?
“We’re currently still trying to figure this out,” Farough said. “Typically, this is done each year at the LibrePlanet conference, but as we’re replacing this with our 40th anniversary celebrations this year, it’s still being decided.”
One thing’s for sure. When the announcements are made, we’ll have an article about it here on FOSS Force — so, with apologies to Rachael Maddow, watch this space.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
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