The Aaron Winborn Award was created in 2015 after the loss of one of one of the Drupal community’s most prominent members, Aaron Winborn, to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (also referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease in the US and Motor Neuron Disease in the UK). Aaron’s commitment to the Drupal project and community made him the epitome of our unofficial motto: "Come for the code, stay for the community". The Community Working Group with the support of the Drupal Association came together to honor Aaron's memory by establishing the Aaron Winborn Award, which annually recognizes an individual who demonstrates personal integrity, kindness, and above-and-beyond commitment to the Drupal community.

Nominations were opened in March, giving community members the opportunity to nominate people they believe deserve the award, which were then voted on by the members of the Community Working Group, along with previous winners of the award.

We are pleased to announce that the 2016 recipient of the Aaron Winborn Award is Gábor Hojtsy. During the closing session of DrupalCon New Orleans, Community Working Group members presented the award to Gábor. The award was accompanied by a free ticket to DrupalCon, which he donated to Bojhan Somers.

Gábor was described in his nomination as an "amazing community connector" who is passionate about empowering others, stepping aside and allowing others the space and support to lead, and celebrating even the small wins that people who work with him achieve. The stellar work and leadership he displayed on the D8 Multilingual Initiative, managing sprints, Drupal events and setting up localize.drupal.org are just a few of the ways that this tireless Drupal contributor has been making an enormous impact in our community for more than a decade.

We hope you will join us in congratulating Gábor, who has demonstrated personal integrity, kindness, and above-and-beyond commitment to the Drupal community in abundance.

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