2026-06-16 –, Sapphire
Fedora is built by contributors working across many areas such as development, documentation, design, QA, infrastructure, user support, mentoring, and outreach, many of which happen behind the scenes. The Fedora Contributor Recognition Program was created to recognize and reward outstanding contributions to the Fedora community. In this session, we will explain how the program works, from the open nomination process to the review and selection process carried out by experienced Fedora contributors using criteria such as impact, quality, innovation, and community engagement. We will also share lessons learned from running the program last year. The session will conclude with the announcement of this year’s winners, celebrating their work and highlighting the many ways people contribute to Fedora.
Justin is best known as an Open Source contributor and Free Culture advocate originally from the United States. Justin has participated in numerous Open Source communities and led different initiatives to build sustainable software and communities for over ten years.
In October 2022, Justin joined Red Hat as the fourth Fedora Community Architect (FCA). He works closely between the Fedora Project community and Red Hat to lead initiatives that grow the Fedora user and developer communities. He also helps make Red Hat and Fedora interactions more transparent and open.
Justin is also a contributor to the Fedora Project since 2015. In Fedora, he co-founded the Community Operations Team and Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Team. He represented Fedora internationally at events and conferences, including FOSDEM, DevConf CZ, All Things Open, OSCAL, and others.
Akashdeep began contributing to Fedora Project as the initiative lead of the Fedora Websites & Apps Team, before moving on to developing and maintaining Fedora Infrastructure projects as part of the Red Hat Community Linux Engineering team. He also contributes to Mentor Summit, Join SIG, Badges Revamp, Forgejo Initiative, and is in the Mindshare committee and the Fedora Council.