= Icelandic developer receives Nordic Free Software Award =
[Permanent URL: http://fsfe.org/news/2010/news-20101108-01 ]
Bjarni Rúnar Einarsson, Free Software developer and community builder from Iceland, has received the Nordic Free Software Award.
This annual prize was awarded on Saturday by Föreningen för Fri Kultur och Programvara and Free Software Foundation Europe at the Free Software Conference and Nordic Summit (FSCONS) which took place in Gothenburg, Sweden this weekend.
Einarsson has been a leading figure in Iceland's Free Software movement for more than a decade. He has been driving the country's Free Software and free culture community, founding and participating in various groups such as Vinix, contributing to the KDE project, and starting netverjar.is, an organisation fighting for civil rights on the Internet.
"Without Bjarni, Iceland's Free Software community wouldn't be what it is today," says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe. "People like Bjarni are the lifeblood of our community. I'm very glad to see his work recognised in this way."
Bjarni has advocated the use of Free Software by maintaining and distributing CDs with a free operating system, both translating and developing Free Software for several years.
"The Nordic Free Software Award is special because it's a recognition from your peers," comments 2009 award recipient, the Swedish Free Software developer Daniel Stehnberg. "It means having your work appreciated by people who understand what you have achieved."
== Links ==
Föreningen för Fri Kultur och Programvara http://ffkp.se
Free Software Foundation Europe http://fsfe.org
== Media contacts ==
Iceland: Smári McCarthy - smari@immi.is +354 662 2701
Denmark: Anne Østergaard - anne@ostergaard.nu +45 35 42 88 73
Sweden: Daniel Stenberg - daniel@haxx.se +46 705 44 31 77
Norway: Anders Kringstad - akai@underworld.no +47 932 82 137
Finland: Otto Kekäläinen - otto@fsfe.org +358 44 566 2204
Rest of Europe: Karsten Gerloff - gerloff@fsfeurope.org +49 176 9690 4298
== About the Free Software Foundation Europe ==
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a non-profit non-governmental organisation active in many European countries and involved in many global activities. Access to software determines participation in a digital society. To secure equal participation in the information age, as well as freedom of competition, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) pursues and is dedicated to the furthering of Free Software, defined by the freedoms to use, study, modify and copy. Founded in 2001, creating awareness for these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues of the FSFE.