OSSHonors
Nominate

Edition 01 · fully online

The open source awards for the AI era

OSSHonors is an online awards and conversation series for the maintainers, contributors and communities who keep open source running. Nominated by peers, voted on in the open, decided by an independent jury.

Submit a nominationPartner with us
Award categories
08
Open community vote
01
Jury rubric areas
05
Panels on AI and open source
06

01How it works

From nomination to the live show, in five steps.

Everything runs online. The community nominates and votes, an independent jury decides, and the awards stream live with the panels. Dates are announced when nominations open.

osshonors.yml · on: edition-015 jobs · online
  1. job 01

    Nominate

    Self and peer nominations, backed by public evidence: repositories, pull requests, releases and reviews.

  2. job 02

    Open vote

    Verified nominees go to a public vote, one vote per account. The vote shapes the shortlist; it never picks a winner on its own.

  3. job 03

    Jury review

    An independent jury and programme committee score the shortlist against a published rubric, with declared conflicts.

  4. job 04

    Honors live

    Winners are announced in an online awards show, with live project demos and the stories behind the code.

  5. job 05

    Panels

    Live discussions on open source in the AI era, streamed alongside the awards and archived for everyone.

02The work

Every square on the graph is someone’s work.

Recognition that looks past stars and follower counts, to sustained maintenance, reviews, documentation and community health.

contributions worth honoring
Every square is someone’s work.LessMore

03Award categories

Eight honors, each judged on public evidence.

Nominate yourself or a peer. Every category has its own lens, and every nomination is scored against the same published rubric.

Why OSSHonors

  1. Beyond stars and commits

    Recognition goes beyond stars and commits to sustained maintenance, accessibility, security, documentation and community health.

    Eight categories, each with its own lens.

  2. The human story behind useful code

    Every shortlisted nomination becomes an opportunity to tell the human story behind useful code.

    Finalist films, maintainer interviews and live panels, published with consent.

  3. Technical credibility first

    Project evidence, published rubrics, conflict of interest declarations and maintainer verification.

    An open vote builds the shortlist. An independent jury decides.

See the categories

04Vote and jury

The community votes. Experts decide.

An open vote keeps the honors close to the community. An independent jury keeps them credible.

  1. 01

    Verified first

    Only nominations with verified public evidence and nominee consent reach the vote.

  2. 02

    One account, one vote

    Everyone can vote once per account in each category.

  3. 03

    It shapes the shortlist

    The most supported nominees join the jury’s shortlist.

  4. 04

    It isn’t the final word

    Community preference informs the jury. It never replaces it.

What a nomination needs

  • Nominee profile and consent, category and contribution period.
  • Public GitHub, GitLab or equivalent repository links, project licence and ownership.
  • Three to five contribution highlights with pull requests, issues or releases.
  • Adoption or usage evidence where available.
  • Maintainer endorsement or peer references, and evidence of community stewardship.
  • A short “why this matters” story.

How the jury scores

100%
  • Depth and quality of contribution25%

    Did the nominee solve something difficult and useful?

  • Impact and adoption25%

    Who benefits, and what is independently observable?

  • Sustainability and stewardship20%

    Will the work stay useful, maintainable and welcoming?

  • Collaboration and community15%

    Did the nominee strengthen the people around the project?

  • Originality and leadership15%

    Did the work set a new direction or standard of excellence?

Indicative weightings, calibrated by category before each edition opens.

The jury

  • Maintainer

    to be announced

  • Security researcher

    to be announced

  • Community lead

    to be announced

  • Industry engineer

    to be announced

Jurors declare conflicts of interest, and every score is auditable.

Open source in the AI era.

Not just awards. Each edition streams live discussions with maintainers and builders on what AI is changing about open source, and what it shouldn’t. Speakers are announced ahead of the show.

  • Panel 01

    When AI writes the pull request

    Maintainers are reviewing more machine-written contributions than ever. What good review, attribution and trust look like now.

    live online · speakers tba

  • Panel 02

    Open weights vs open source

    What “open” should mean for models, data and code, and why the definition matters to the people who build on them.

    live online · speakers tba

  • Panel 03

    Securing the AI supply chain

    From poisoned packages to model files: hardening everything AI tools pull in, before it reaches production.

    live online · speakers tba

  • Panel 04

    Funding the commons

    AI is built on open source. Who pays the maintainers it depends on, and what actually keeps them going?

    live online · speakers tba

  • Panel 05

    Docs for humans and agents

    Writing documentation that people and coding agents can both use, without losing the people.

    live online · speakers tba

  • Panel 06

    The next maintainers

    Bringing students and first-time contributors into projects when AI can do the easy issues.

    live online · speakers tba

05Keynotes

The live show, from opening to close.

The awards stream as an online show with keynotes and finalist films. This is the proposed run of show. Speakers and dates are announced ahead of the show.

Main stageOSSHonors

01 / 04

Opening keynote

Speakers: to be announced

Live on Honors Night

Opening keynote

Why recognising maintainers matters more than ever in the AI era, and what OSSHonors sets out to change.

06Built for GitHub

Designed to live where the work already lives.

Open source already happens on GitHub. OSSHonors plugs into it, so the honors, the vote and the panels sit next to the work. Here is what a partnership could look like.

  • One account, one vote

    Sign in with GitHub to nominate and to vote. A verified identity, and a profile that already shows the work.

  • Evidence from the graph

    Nominations cite real pull requests, reviews and releases, so the jury judges the work, not the follower count.

  • Sponsors for winners

    Award grants paid through GitHub Sponsors, so recognition becomes support that lasts beyond the show.

  • Stories worth shipping

    Finalist films and maintainer interviews, ready for GitHub’s blog, social channels and events.

  • Live where developers are

    Awards and panels streamed online and archived, on the channels developers already watch.

  • India on the stage

    Puts maintainers from one of GitHub’s fastest growing developer communities in front of the world.

Reserved for GitHub

Founding partner

Co-create the first edition: the categories, the open vote and the panels, on the platform where the work already lives.

Announcing soon

Presenting partner

Presents the online awards show and the panel series to the community.

Open

Community partners

Foundations, maintainer groups, developer communities and campus clubs that carry nominations and the vote.

Behind every square is an issue someone closed.

07FAQs

Questions, answered.

Who can be nominated?

Developers, maintainers, documentation champions and community builders whose open source work creates lasting value. You can nominate yourself or a peer.

What does a nomination need?

Public repository links, the project licence and the nominee’s role, three to five contribution highlights, a maintainer endorsement or peer references, and a short story about why the work matters. The nominee’s consent is required.

How does the open vote work?

Once their evidence is verified, nominees go to a public vote with one vote per account. The vote shapes the shortlist. It never decides an award on its own.

Who decides the winners?

An independent jury and programme committee, scoring the shortlist against a published rubric. Jurors declare conflicts of interest, and scoring is auditable.

Is it all online?

Yes. Nominations, the vote, judging, the awards show and the panels all happen online, so anyone can take part and watch.

What are the panels?

Live discussions on open source in the AI era, from machine-written pull requests to funding maintainers. Speakers are announced ahead of the show.

Who owns the work and the stories?

Builders keep ownership of their work. Profiles, stories and films are published only with the nominee’s consent.

How can my organisation get involved?

As a founding, presenting or community partner. See the partner tiers above.

Nominations · edition 01

Know someone whose work deserves the stage?

A maintainer, a docs hero, a community builder. Put their name forward, or your own.

Start a nominationCreate account