Nominations are requested by October 31 2006.
BOSTON, September 21, 2006 — The Free Software Foundation (FSF) announces a request for nominations for the 2006 Free Software Award for Projects of Social Benefit.
This award is presented to the project or team responsible for applying free software, or the ideas of the free software movement, in a project that intentionally and significantly benefits society in other aspects of life. We look to recognize projects or teams that encourage collaboration to accomplish social tasks. A long-term commitment to one's project (or the potential for a long-term commitment) is crucial to this end.
Last years winner Wikipedia was recognized for creating a free, online, collaborative, encyclopedia utilizing free software and free document licensing. As a collaborative project it has achieved enormous success and given free access to knowledge, which is fundamentally important to the advancement and freedom of any society.
The Free Software Award for Projects of Social Benefit stresses the use of free software in the service of humanity. We have deliberately chosen this broad criterion so that many different areas of activity can be considered. However, one area that is not included is that of free software development itself. Projects with a primary goal of promoting or advancing free software are not eligible for this award (we honor those projects with our annual Award for the Advancement of Free Software).
To qualify, a project must use free software, produce free documentation, or use the idea of free software as defined in the Free Software Definition. Work done commercially is eligible, but we will give this award to the project or team that best utilizes resources for society's greater benefit.
Please send your nominations to award-nominations@gnu.org, on or before 31 October 2006. Please submit nominations in the following format:
- Put the name of the project or team you are nominating in the email message subject line.
- Please include, in the body of your message, an explanation (40 lines or less) of the project, how it uses free software or free software ideas, and why you think it is especially important to society.
- Please state, in the body of your message, where to find the materials (e.g., software, manuals, or writing) which your nomination is based on.
The 2005 award committee was composed of: Peter H. Salus (chair), Richard Stallman, Alan Cox, Lawrence Lessig, Guido van Rossum, Frederic Couchet, Jonas Oberg, Hong Feng, Bruce Perens, Raju Mathur, Suresh Ramasubramanian, Enrique A. Chaparro, and Ian Murdock.
Members of the 2006 award committee will shortly be announced.
About The Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software — particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants — and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software. Their Web site, located at http://www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support their work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. Their headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
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