For ten years the Perl community has made it a point to recognize the many significant contributions made by the unsung heros of Perl. These volunteers often work behind the scenes, serving the community and contributing to the ongoing success of Perl. The White Camel award is intended to honor those who make noteworthy and ongoing non-technical contributions in benefit of the Perl community.
This year we have three White Camel winners. Each one is deserving of the award for numerous reasons and all are considered community-builders in their region of the world.
The first White Camel recipient for 2008 is Jacinta Richardson. She has been credited for saving more than one Perl Monger group from dying and has been heralded as the "gardener of the Australian Perl Community", in the sense that she provides energy while subtly encouraging others to take responsibility. She is an active member in every Monger group in Australia, as well as many other FLOSS groups in the area. She has helped organize OSDC, Linux.com.au, and SAGE conferences. She works with Perl Training Australia in supporting the Perl community with such ventures as perl.net.au and Perl Tips.
The second White Camel recipient for 2008 is Tatsuhiko Miyagawa. Despite his considerable technical contributions to Perl, Miyagawa has also been an active community organizer and advocate for Perl. His work, in code and in the community, is seen so often that it is rumored that he never sleeps. He has been one of the main organizers for YAPC::Asia for three years, drawing record attendance for any YAPC in the world. He has organized numerous meetings for Shibuya.pm, growing it to one of the largest Perl Monger groups in existence. He frequently reaches outside of the Perl bubble and organizes cross-language meetings and events.
The third White Camel recipient for 2008 is Gabor Szabo. Gabor is also a three time YAPC organizer. He is responsible for thee YAPC::Israel conferences, OSDC::Israel 2006, and multiple Hungarian Perl Workshops. He is an active member of his local Perl Mongers group where he has worked to organize meetings and grow the group's popularity and attendance. He has contributed to the greater Perl community by way of countless weblog entries, comments, emails and support.
Congratulations to this years winners and thank you all for the great list of nominations.
http://news.perlfoundation.org/2008/07/white_camel_awards_2008.html
