Nominations Roll In For The NZ Open Source Awards

Thursday, 21 June 2007, 2:48 pm
Press Release: Catalyst IT

Wellington, 21 June 2007

Nominations roll in for the New Zealand Open Source Awards

It took a little under a hour and half for Catalyst IT to receive the first nomination for the New Zealand Open Source Awards.

"By the end of Friday, when we announced the Awards, we'd already received eight good nominations", said Catalyst Director Don Christie.

"We've even had one from as far afield as Israel praising some of the open source work happening here."

"In just under a week we are up to 17. But what impresses more than the numbers, is the quality of the responses. There are some really compelling stories coming through about what people are doing with open source and about the people themselves - all right here in New Zealand."

The organisers are expecting to see a lot more nominations come in over the next eight weeks before nominations close on 17 August. The Awards cover both software that is available as open source and the use of open source software by organisations.

"By all accounts people are finding it pretty straightforward to enter for the Awards" according to Christie, "We are not looking for masses of detail, so it doesn't take too long to fill in the entry form online at www.nzosa.org.nz".

Open source is changing the way people and organisations collaborate and innovate to achieve common goals. For New Zealand, open source not only represents an opportunity to contribute and be recognised on the world stage, but also to deliver real competitive advantage to our business sector, show leadership in e-government within the public sector, and to provide more effective tools for community- based organisations as they meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Current sponsors for the Awards include:

* Catalyst IT (www.catalyst.net.nz)
* New Zealand Open Source Society (www.nzoss.org.nz)
* Positively Wellington Business (www.positivelywellingtonbusiness.co.nz)
* Internet New Zealand (www.internetnz.net.nz)
* Hire Things (www.hirethings.co.nz)

ENDS

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