Award for the Advancement of Free Software
The Free Software Foundation Award for the Advancement of Free Software is presented annually to an individual who has made a great contribution to the progress and development of free software, through activities that accord with the spirit of free software. The winner of the 2019 award was announced at LibrePlanet 2020. This year's winner will be announced at LibrePlanet 2021. Nominations for this year's award are now closed.
Individuals who describe their projects as "open" instead of "free" are eligible nonetheless, provided the software is in fact free/libre.
Watch the acceptance speech from Jim Meyering at LibrePlanet 2020
The 2019 award was accepted by Jim Meyering, a prolific free software programmer, maintainer, and writer. Presenting the award was Richard Stallman, founder of both the Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project.
Previous winners include Deborah Nicholson, Karen Sandler, Alexandre Oliva, Werner Koch, Sébastien Jodogne, Matthew Garrett, Dr. Fernando Perez, Yukihiro Matsumoto, Rob Savoye, John Gilmore, Wietse Venema, Harald Welte, Ted Ts'o, Andrew Tridgell, Theo de Raadt, Alan Cox, Larry Lessig, Guido van Rossum, Brian Paul, Miguel de Icaza and Larry Wall.
For awards prior to 2004, historical award information is also available.
