I am happy to announce that the nomination phase of our 2016 DevOps Dozen awards are now open! As I wrote last week, we are doing things a little differently this year based on our experiences last year. Rather than just coming up with the 12 best companies in DevOps, instead we have selected a dozen different categories for awards this year. For us this was the really hard part. Coming up with categories was easy, picking the right 12 categories was the not so easy. So we will go with these twelve and again in true DevOps style we will learn from the feedback loops if  we need to change them next year. For for this year though, these are our categories. So please help us select the winners in the 2016 DevOps Dozen.

At this stage of the process we are looking for you to nominate your favorites in each category. We are going to limit nominations to two per category. That means you can nominate in all twelve categories, but just two per category. We will take the top twelve nominees in each category and they will advance to the finals. This will be announced on October 1, 2016.  You can get more info about the DevOps Dozen at http://www.devopsdozen.com.

So here are the categories with short descriptions of each:

Best DevOps Open Source Project – This one is pretty self-evident. We are looking for an open source solution (There can be a commercial version, but we are looking only for the open source project) that really is the best DevOps open source project.

Best DevOps Commercial Solution (not open source, but can have open source as a component) – this is the opposite of the one above. It is a commercial solution that can have open source components or an open source version even. It can be pure software or SaaS or even services.

Best DevOps Company Executive (C-level at a DevOps solutions provider) – We are looking for the top executive at a DevOps tools or solution provider. It could be a CEO but could also be a CTO or other C-level executive. In a large company it may be an GM or SVP too.  This is not an exec at a company leading a DevOps Transformation. We have that in another category.

Most Effective DevOps Solution Provider-  This category is for the best solutions provider in DevOps. There is a growing number of DevOps consultants who are helping companies in their DevOps journeys. We are looking for the best of them right here.

Most Innovative DevOps Solution of the Year – What’s the difference between best and innovative? Good question. We are looking for solutions that really changed the game here. Taking a different approach or new technology, innovation is sometimes hard to describe but easy to see. We want to recognize the innovators.

Top DevOps Evangelist (this can be a company-specific evangelist or DevOps as a whole) – This is one of my favorites. We are blessed in DevOps to have so many great evangelists who travel the world spreading the DevOps gospel. Whether they work for a specific company in the space or not, this should be a really competitive category.

Successful DevOps Transformation (we are looking for organizations that have undergone or at least begun their own DevOps transformation/journey) – We hear from so many organizations about their DevOps transformations. Lets recognize those organizations who are really setting the bar in making over their companies with DevOps.

DevOps Transformation Executive of the Year (this recognizes an executive (CIO, CTO, VP, etc. who led a successful DevOps transformation/journey) – Sort of the “best director to the best picture” category. At these organizations who have had the most successful DevOps transformations, who was the key leader who made it happen? We want to know and we want to acknowledge them.

Best New DevOps Solutions Company (must be less than 24 months old) – While DevOps as a movement isn’t that old, there are some companies who have been at this for a while, but there are also some newer companies that have exploded on the scene and really made an impact. We are looking for those companies who are tomorrows leaders in DevOps.

Best DevOps Book/ebook (must be published for the first time less than 24 months ago) – No the Phoenix Project is not eligible, neither is Jez’s CD book. This is hte 2016 DevOps Dozen. But there are so many great DevOps books and ebooks. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has to say.

Best DevOps Presentation of the Year (must include link to presentation, either video, audio or slideshare) –We are lucky to have so many DevOps conferences (another category for next year?), at the conferences we have tons of great presentations. In fact so much of the DevOps movement was ignited by a few great presentations. What was the best presentation of the past year? Let us know which ones you really thought were best.

Best DevOps.com Article of the Year – Are you a regular reader of DevOps.com? We publish from 3 to 5 new articles every day. Which one did you think was best? Let us know so we can recognize the author.

There you have it. The 2016 DevOps Dozen categories. Looking forward to your nominations.