The Java Community Process (JCP) program celebrates success. Members of the community nominate worthy participants, Spec Leads, and Java Specification Requests (JSRs) in order to cheer on the hard work and creativity that produces ground-breaking results for the community and industry in the Java Standard Edition (SE), Java Enterprise Edition (EE), or Java Micro Edition (ME) platforms.

The community gets together every year at the JavaOne conference to applaud in person the winners the JCP Annual Awards. This year we have four award categories: JCP Member/Participant of the Year, Outstanding Spec Lead, Most Significant JSR and Outstanding Adopt-a-JSR Participant. This year's unveiling will occur Monday evening, October 2, at the Annual JCP Community Party held at the Marriott Marquis San Francisco.

With great appreciation, now for the 15th year, the community recognizes the award nominees, listed below, with their nomination justifications. Winners are also shown. The award results were announced and awards given at the JCP Community Event at JavaOne 2017 on Monday, 2 October 2017.

• Rudy De Busscher
  
  Rudy has gone well above and beyond in helping the critical Java EE Security JSR forward. Indeed without his selfless contributions from the community, it may be that Java EE Security would not have been delivered for Java EE 8.

• Otávio Gonçalves de Santana * Winner *
  
  Otávio is a very active JCP member. He is an active Expert Group member for 6 JSRs (JSR 354, JSR 363, JSR 365, JSR 367, JSR 377, JSR 380) and in last year (as has been for more than three years now), has been working with diverse initiatives to promote Java and the JCP.

  He presented about the JCP and Java technologies in Devoxx US, JavaOne Latin America, JavaOne and many Brazilian events. In such events, he's always present to coordinate Hackergartens that make promote the use of JSRs to developers. He was a key participant in the Java US JUG tour, talking to 10 JUGs about Java, the JCP and NoSQL across 8 Southeast US states. He also did a JCP European Tour, where he went to Italy, London, and France to talk about JCP to user groups and others in January 2017. He is leading the effort to rally the community around a new, to be announced, NoSQL JSR so that Java has a standard way of accessing such databases. He's not only bringing them together but also leading the effort of writing the specification and making sure everyone has a voice. For such active and passionate drive around Java and JCP, he should be nominated the JCP Participant of the Year. He has participated a lot in the CDI and Bean Validation Spec, always active in the project and with a great disposition to help the Java community to start in the JSR's.
  

  

• Reza Rahman
  
  Reza is one of the most active and vocal supporters of the JCP in the community. He is doing an excellent job advocating Java EE, follows and provide input on several JSRs mailing lists. Reza is also supporting the Adopt-a-JSR program and encouraging user groups around the world to participate. Reza has shown outstanding support for the JCP process throughout his career. Most recently, Reza's hard work and perseverance with the Java EE Guardians group has proven yet again that he is an indispensable asset to the JCP program. He's been a very passionate JCP and Java EE advocate even after leaving Oracle. He's continued to organize the community and Java/Java EE stakeholders and foster the communication between them. He's greatly contributed to the health of the Java and Java EE ecosystem. Without his social engagement and contributions, it's probable that parts of the Java ecosystem would be in depression and the JCP would be much less popular than now.

• Arjan Tijms
  
  Arjan has shown outstanding support for the JCP process through his major, if not critical, contributions to JSF 2.3, Security 1.0, and many other areas of Java EE. Arjan has clearly gone above and beyond for almost every Java EE 8 JSR - especially JSF 2.3 and Java EE Security 1.0. Indeed it is likely JSF 2.3 and Java EE Security 1.0 would not have happened without Arjan's selfless contributions from the community. It would truly be a shame if the JCP did not recognize Arjan's contributions this year. He's been doing that without a support by any JCP member company, in his free, non-paid time and without his contribution devotion, these JSRs wouldn't be complete or anywhere near completion this year, putting the Java EE ecosystem at a great danger. In addition for his extremely hard work on JSF/Mojarra and on the Security JSR/Soteria projects.
  
  

• Ed Burns
  
  Ed has been a key part of moving Java EE 8 forward at Oracle. He has been instrumental for both Servlet 4 and JSF 2.3. He actively involves the community via the JCP program, whenever possible. Ed's continued efforts should be recognized. Ed Burns has led a number of specifications over his tenure, and he has always gone above and beyond as lead. From his great leadership to his excellent presentation skills, to his expertise and great mentorship, Ed is significantly helping to evolve Java EE through the specifications he leads.

• Ivar Grimstad and Christian Kaltepoth
  
  They have done a great job on the JSR 371, always active in the project and with a great willingness to help. Ivar is always being passionate about the JCP and JSRs, and not abandoning even JSRs in need.

• Dmitry Kornilov
  
  Dmitry has been a key part of moving Java EE 8 forward at Oracle. He's done a lot of work on the new JSON-B JSR to finish it this year. At the same time he took the leadership of the JSON-P after its previous lead and he lead it to a final release ahead of schedule. Apart from that, he also worked with the community on how to address configuration in a JSR and gathered a lot of resources and ideas to propose such a JSR. He has effectively helped to deliver JSON-B, JSON-P 1.1 as well as the JPA 2.1 maintenance release. He has made sure to involve the community through the JCP program whenever possible. Dmitry's continued efforts should be recognized.

• Gunnar Morling
  
  Bean Validation is one of the most participative JSRs I've ever served on.

• Scott Martin Nicklous
  
  Outstanding work on the Portlet Bridge 3.0 spec (JSR 362).

• Antoine Sabot-Durand * Winner *
  
  Antoine has done a tremendous amount of work and was maybe the most active spec lead. He leads probably the most active Java EE JSR (JSR 365, CDI 2.0), which was being developed at a steady pace, with a lot of improvements, and is now final as scheduled. The JSR is one of the most significant ones for the Java community, as it improves the API available in Java EE and also brings the same API to any Java application. In his tireless work, he has not only completed CDI 2.0 work, but also helped other specs integrate better with it. Antoine and the CDI EG have worked to boost the adoption of CDI outside of the traditional Java EE sphere (Java SE adoption is a key aspect of CDI 2).

  CDI 2 was developed in a very open manner. Antoine was always able to reach consensus among the EG members on many of the technical challenges. Antoine drove CDI 2 to completion in time - CDI 2 was one of the first Java EE 8 related JSR finalized! Last but not least, Antoine is always available to promote CDI 2 and help the community. Antoine has given many CDI 2 related talks at numerous conferences (JavaOne, Devoxx, JPrime, JDK.IO, JUGs...). He has also held a daylong CDI 2 Adopt-A-JSR workshop in Sofia during his free time!
  

  
  
  

• JSR 365, Contexts and Dependency Injection for Java 2.0
  
  The JSR received very important updates for using inside EE and now also SE. Technically, CDI is not a simple specification as a lot of other JSRs and APIs rely or consume CDI in a way or in another (e.g. Bean Validation, JSF, JAX-RS, Java EE, Interceptors, etc.). In just a few years, CDI has became a key technology of the Java EE platform. And now, Antoine and the CDI EG have worked to boost the adoption of CDI outside of the traditional Java EE sphere (Java SE adoption is a key aspect of CDI 2). It should also be mentioned that CDI is also always on the edge (e.g. it's the first JSR that has leverage the Java SE 8 ComplentionStage API).

• JSR 367, Java API for JSON Binding (JSON-B)
  
  This JSR specifies the functionality very often needed in modern applications for years, but not covered by any specification yet, not even by a common consensus. This JSR is needed to avoid confusions in JSON binding and avoid many workarounds around that functionality, such as using JAX-B for this purpose, while it was designed for XML. The JSR bring a simple API and mapping behavior which is a common sense and nobody seems to have objections besides that it's just long overdue. The JSR was one of the few Java EE JSRs being worked last year and is well thought through. There was enough time to review the JSR, discuss with the community and gather feedback.

• JSR 369, Servlet 4.0
  
  The changes in Servlet 4 - namely HTTP/2 support - is likely to have the largest impact on Java of all the Java EE 8 JSRs. It is also one of the JSRs that has had the widest industry participation. For this reason, this JSR deserves special recognition.

• JSR 371, Model-View-Controller (MVC 1.0)
  
  Even though the work is slowly coming back, JSR has a great chance of success. The members of EG and Spec Lead are always willing to help and disinfect knowledge.

• JSR 372, JavaServer Faces (JSF 2.3)
  
  JSF 2.3 deserves recognition for moving forward at a very swift pace, and accomplishing more than originally proposed. The superior leadership and outstanding contributions made by the expert group members make this specification stand out.

• JSR 375, Java EE Security API * Winner *
  
  This is a clearly needed spec and it's hard to figure out why it hasn't been done before. Java EE Security has been one of the most awaited and critical JSRs in Java EE 8. This JSR brings a unified security model which is easy to understand and used. It builds on previous specifications, which were often complex and hard to use in simple situations. With this specification, security with Java EE will be much easier to work with. The community support for this JSR is huge, demonstrated by the strong support for including the JSR in the Java EE Web Profile on the Java EE mailing list. For these reasons, it deserves special recognition.
  

  
  
  

• Josh Juneau, Chicago JUG
  
  Josh has done an outstanding job advocating and contributing to almost every Java EE 8 JSR from the community through Adopt-a-JSR via the Chicago JUG. Josh should be recognized as a JCP hero and an inspiration to others. He's one of the leaders of the Chicago JUG, who have adopted multiple JSRs and actively organized events to support them. He's actively participated in conferences, podcasts, wrote blogs and often used this opportunity to spread the knowledge about the JCP and various JSRs and the Adopt-A-JSR program.

• Martijn Verburg, London Java Community * Winner *
  
  Martijn is the most active leader of the London Java Community, which actively supports the Adopt-a-JSR program and has organized events to support Java 9 adoption and the JCP. Martijn does also a lot of work on his own, cooperating with the Java community, supporting and facilitating many activities that promote various Java ecosystems (Java EE, Java FX, etc.) He does a tremendous amount of work and inspires other people for the adoption of Java EE.
  

  

• Bert Breeman, Maurice de Chateau and Eelco Meuter, NL JUG
  
  The NL JUG has pushed the Adopt-A-JSR initiative in The Netherlands; an initiative that was driven by Maurice de Chateau on the NL JUG side. The NL JUG has organized Adopt-A-JSR workshops (JSR 375, JSR 371) and a Hands-On-Lab (JSR 379). The JSR 375 (Security API for Java EE) Adopt-A-JSR held in February 2017 was particularly useful for the Oracle Java EE organization. The outcome of that workshop was valuable feedback that helped the JSR 375 EG in shaping the API and clarify the specification. An overview of the provided feedback can be found here (http://www.nljug.org/jcp/jsr375-security/). And in addition, Bert Breeman for his boundless enthusiasm in both Java User Groups and Oracle User Groups, years of driving the NLJUG in the background, continual light hearted yet technical tone, and valuable member of the worldwide Java and Oracle communities. The NL JUG deserves some recognition for driving such initiative locally.

• Simon Maple, Virtual JUG
  
  The Virtual JUG has held several joint hackday broadcasts between the Virtual JUG and other Java User Groups, the Iceland JUG and the London Java Community. Hundreds of participants have joined these sessions virtually, and several JUGs have also joined to participate with their local communities, to get ready for Java 9. The hack sessions covered the new modules system in Java 9, the JLink tool which allows you to create Java images with your application, and also how to migrate to the new Java 9 modular system with an older app. More sessions are planned to continue this effort in August and September to get the community ready for the next release of Java SE.
  https://virtualjug.com
  
  

Description of the JCP Award Categories JCP Member/Participant of the Year - This award recognizes the corporate or individual member (either Member or Participant) who has made the most significant positive impact on the community in the past year. Leadership, investment in the community, and innovation are some of the qualities that EC Members look for in voting for this award.   Outstanding Spec Lead - The role of Spec Lead is not an easy one, and the person who takes that responsibility must be, among other things, technically savvy, able to build consensus in spite of diverse corporate goals, and focused on efficiency and execution. This award recognizes the person who has brought together these qualities the best in the past year, in leading a JSR for the Java community (Java SE, Java EE or Java ME).   Most Significant JSR - Specification development is key to the success of the JCP program and helps ensure we remain a fresh and vibrant community. This award recognizes the Spec Lead and Expert Group that have contributed (either in progress or final) the most significant JSR for the Java community (Java SE, Java EE or Java ME) in the past year.   Outstanding Adopt-a-JSR Participant - This award recognizes the Java User Group (JUG) that has made the most exemplary contribution through the Adopt-a-JSR program in the past year. The London Java Community and SouJava initiated, and are thereby implicitly recognized, in this effort for JUGs around the world to become more involved in the work of JSRs. Innovation, community engagement and technical impact are some of the characteristics that EC Members look for in voting for this award.