The APC Chris Nicol FOSS Prize 2007
The first APC FOSS Prize established in 2006 to honour Chris Nicol (http://www.apc.org/english/chrisnicol), a long time FOSS advocate and activist who for many years, worked with APC has been jointly awarded to: Free Geek (USA) and NepaLinux (Nepal). Both initiatives will share the US$ 4,000 prize. In addition to selecting above mentioned prize winners, the jury has decided to award an honourable mention to the educational project Gleducar in Argentina (http://www.gleducar.org.ar). The winners were selected from seven previously short listed best prize nominations. The four remaining prize finalists were – Extramadura’s Technological Literacy and Free Software Plan in Spain, KLDP in South Korea, MetaReciclagem in Brazil and Saregune in Spain. The winners were selected by an international jury of FOSS experts. A ceremony celebrating the APC Chris Nicol FOSS Prize 2007 was held during the APC council meeting in Rio de Janeiro on November 6, 2007. The Chris Nicol FOSS Prize is open to any person or group anywhere in the world who supports or promotes user-oriented free and open source software. The prize is financed by the Association for Progressive Communications(APC). APC is an international network of civil society organisations dedicated to empowering and supporting groups and individuals through the strategic use of Information and Communication Technologies, especially Internet-technologies.
NepaLinux (Nepal)
The joint-winner from Patan in Nepal is the project ‘NepaLinux’ from the organisation ‘Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya’. NepaLinux (http://www.nepalinux.org) is a Nepali-localised Debian and Morphix distribution based on GNU/Linux. The main contribution of the project is allowing non-English speakers to use GNU/Linux and to develop on it. The second contribution is creating a general awareness around the use of FOSS in Nepal as opposed to using pirated and unlicensed proprietary software.
The NepaLinux team is committed towards producing more user-friendly, more stable and less technical software that would meet the actual demand of the Nepali people. Detailed description of the seven finalists and winners are available in English and Spanish on the prize homepage: http://www.apc.org/english/chrisnicol/finalists
Free Geek (USA)
‘Free Geek’ (http://www.freegeek.org) from Portland in the USA is an organisation that recycles used technology to provide computers, education, Internet access and job skills training to those in need in exchange for community service. Any individual may contribute 24 hours of volunteering in the ‘Adoption Programme’ at Free Geek in exchange for a free computer and any individual who wishes to learn how to build computers can join the ‘Build Programme’. All computers have free and open source software installed.
Stockholm Challenge Award 2007 in cooperation with Global Knowledge Partnership
The Stockholm Challenge GKP Awards 2007 (http://www.stockholmchallenge.se/news/articles/32) is a new joint initiative with the multi stakeholder networking organisation Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP). The awards will be presented at the Global Knowledge III event in Kuala Lumpur in December 2007. The new prize is an integral part of the Stockholm Challenge 2008 and is open in four of the six Stockholm Challenge categories: Culture, Economic Development, Education and Public Administration. It focuses on the role of multi-stakeholder partnerships in ICT for development. All Stockholm Challenge 2008 applicants, who are made up of multi stakeholder partnerships, in the four categories will be eligible for the new award. The finalists will be sponsored to travel to the Global Knowledge III Conference in Kuala Lumpur in December 2007 to be celebrated and exhibited. The winners will be announced during this event and they will also be invited to Challenge Week in Stockholm in May 2008, and travel at GKP
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