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 in the Java technology.

The community gets together every year, virtually this year, to applaud the winners of the JCP Program Awards. This year we have two award categories: JCP Member/Participant of the Year and JCP Spec Lead/JSR of the Year.

With great appreciation, now for the 19th year, the community recognized the award nominees, listed below, with their nomination justifications. The award results wll be announced at the Annual JCP Community Party and Awards Ceremony, virtually this year, on Tuesday, October 12, 2021. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!

• Nishant Raut
  
  Nishant is active Expert Group member of JSR 381 (Visual Recognition). He contributes to code, examples and presented JSR 381 at JUG events. In addition, he actively advocates JSR 381 on social media. Besides, Nishant is the Leader of Mumbai JUG, Jakarta EE Ambassador and open source contributor. Nishant is a valuable community resource.

• Ken Fogel * Winner *
  
  Ken was elected to the JCP EC in 2019. He ran as an Associate seat, representing Associate Members of the JCP program. In his nomination he stated he would be representing the education sector perspective. At the time he was a professor in the Computer Science Technology program at Dawson College in Montreal. Since joining the JCP EC, he has provided valuable insights and encouraged the JCP program to start an initiative around Java in Education, to bring Java technology to the next generation of developers.

  
  

• JSR 381 Visual Recognition API
  
  JSR 381 has reached public review stage in the JCP program and is very important for the future of Java platform. It provides support for machine learning and innovative applications. The JSR will provide a machine learning API that Java developers expect. The JSR has raised a lot of interest among developers and companies in the Java ecosystem.

• JSR 392, Java Standard Edition (Java SE) 17 * Winner *
  
  The JSR for the Java SE 17 Platform. This JSR and its participations have worked with the Java developer community to continue to deliver on the six month Java platform release cadence, providing predictable and digestible innovations to developers in the Java community, including significant language improvements that will help to attract the next generation of Java developers, such as pattern matching, switch expressions and records.

  
  

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.   JCP Spec Lead/JSR of the Year - 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.