Last Friday I was presented with an O’Reilly Open Source Award. The award recognizes  “individual contributors who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, creativity, and collaboration in the development of Open Source Software.” Wikipedia has a list of previous winners.

Not only did I get the very awesome sharpie-enscribed lightbulb award you see above, but I also received my very own Eggbot! The Eggbot is an open source CNC artbot and was used to create the awards.

I’m honored to be recognized by O’Reilly for my work getting people involved in in Open Source through events like BarCamp Portland and Open Source Bridge via my governance of Stumptown Syndicate.

However, these efforts are by no means singular. The projects I’m involved in are successful because of the awesome people that choose to volunteer their time to help make them a reality. I would have liked to be able to recognize a dozen or more people on stage with me last Friday. Thank you Audrey Eschright, Reid Beels, Jim Eastman, Kirsten Comandich, Amy Farrell, Chris McCraw, Igal Koshevoy, and Melissa Chavez for working with me on these projects year after year. And, thank you to my lovely wife Sherri Montgomery for supporting my work and joining in herself.

If you’re curious what Edd and Sarah said about me, check out the video here:

I feel as if my work in open source and free culture is just beginning. There is so much more to do. If you’d like to join me, get in touch!