Through sharing success stories, the awards aim to raise awareness about the competitive edge that free and open source software allows for. Using these real life New Zealand examples resonates with the awards audience. This empowers them to explore and expand their knowledge of free and open source solutions, for their business or organisation.

With 7 categories for the awards, nominations come in from throughout the country - from the open source community, government or the private sector. Each of these nominations are evaluated by a panel of judges, and then presented to the recipients at the gala dinner.

 

History of the awards

The New Zealand Open Source Awards were first held in 2007, then 2008 and biennially since then.  The most recent in 2021 (postponed from 2020).

The roll call of previous winners, and the nominations that they were drawn from, is an impressive testament to New Zealand's contributions to the global open source movement. As those contributions continue, the New Zealand Open Source Awards recognise that achievement and celebrate it with the people that make it happen.