During DrupalCon North America 2021, the members of the Drupal Community Working Group announced the winner of the 2021 Aaron Winborn Award, AmyJune Hineline (volkswagenchick).
Since joining the Drupal community in 2015 after a career change, AmyJune has made an impact in multiple aspects of the community. She is a core mentor, helps organize multiple Drupal events around North America, and is a tireless advocate for accessibility and inclusivity in the community. In addition, she is one of the organizers of A11yTalks, a member of the Community Health Team, a documentation contributor, and has been credited in over 700 issues in the past year. Much of her work is sponsored by her employer, Kanopi Studios.
Multiple people nominated AmyJune for this award. Here are some of the things they said:
"AmyJune has worked tirelessly for years to encourage contribution to the Drupal project from people with ALL levels of experience and skill sets. She creates a welcoming environment for anyone interested in contributing and makes the process less intimidating."
"She shares her knowledge freely and frequently, and also shares prolifically on social media to help others spread the word about their community work and celebrate successes."
"AmyJune is dedicated to the Drupal project on a level I have personally never seen before."
"AmyJune encourages accessibility and inclusiveness in all of her interactions within the community."
"I've never seen someone more dedicated to community and especially the Drupal community."
"I'm new to the Drupal Community (I joined 5 months ago), and I'm also new to the tech industry, and of course, the onboarding with no coding skills whatsoever has been quite a challenge. In this brief period, AmyJune has been an inspiring role model to look up to."
This year, there were 29 individuals nominated for the award. In the coming weeks, the CWG will be contacting all nominees to let them know of their nomination and thank them for their continued work in the community.
In addition to the physical award shipped to AmyJune, she was also provided with a free ticket to DrupalCon Global which she graciously donated to a deserving community member. The physical award that was hand-crafted by Drupal community member Bo Shipley (simplyshipley).
The award is named after a long-time Drupal contributor who lost his battle with ALS in 2015. This award recognizes an individual who, like Aaron, demonstrates personal integrity, kindness, and an above-and-beyond commitment to the Drupal project and community. Previous winners of the award are Cathy Theys, Gabór Hojtsy, Nikki Stevens, Kevin Thull, Leslie Glynn, and Baddý Breidert. Current CWG members, along with previous winners, selected the winner based on nominations submitted by Drupal community members.
Nominations for the 2022 award will open in early 2022.