As part of this year’s FOSS4G Conference, the ‘Sol Katz Award’ was presented to a FOSSGIS member for the second time, after Markus Neteler received it in 2006. “Arnulf gives his life for FOSS4G,” said the current president of OSGeo, Jeff McKenna, to his predecessor at the award ceremony. The Sol Katz Award has been presented annually by OSGeo since 2005 to a person who has distinguished themselves through special achievements in the education and development of the international FOSS4G Community and its ideals, and who is one of its thought leaders. The name “Sol Katz Award” goes back to Sol Katz, born in Sweden, one of the “pioneers” of the Open Source GIS Community. Sol died in 1999 after a long illness. You can find more about him and the award here.

We believe that Arnulf Christl more than deserves the recognition he receives through the award, not only because of his many years of active involvement in FOSSGIS or his presidency and early membership in OSGeo, but also because of his enthusiasm for discussion, his tireless work, his ideas and their implementation. Just keep up the good work, Arnulf!