2008 Dewey Award Nomination Guidelines

The annual Dewey Winburne Community Service Award honors the memory of SXSW Interactive Festival co-founder Dewey Winburne, who passed away in February of 1999. To celebrate his connection with SXSW, nominees for the Dewey Award are traditionally announced as part of the event.

Who was Dewey? Both a dreamer and a doer, his energy helped SXSW become one of the nation's top showcases for innovative new media developers. Likewise, Dewey's passion in pushing community-based projects echoed his belief that technology is the best way to correct inequalities between the haves and the have nots.

Although the Dewey Award has traditionally honored people living in Austin, these geographical boundaries are now being expanded to include all of Texas. This statewide expansion for 2008 is an intermediary step -- the goal here is that in future years the prize will be open to all people living in the US (and eventually to anyone anywhere in the world). In this way, we hope to make SXSW Interactive one of the world's leading events for celebrating the power of community technology, much as it currently stands as one of the top gatherings for digital creatives.

We Need Your Help

Please help us uncover the most worthy individual or individuals for the 2008 Dewey Winburne Community Service Award. Is there someone you know who lives in Texas who is using technology in a grass-roots manner to make life better for society's less fortunate citizens? Don't worry if this individual isn't particularly famous -- the Dewey Award is all about honoring people whose good works often go un-noticed.

If you know of a suitable candidate, please e-mail us the following information:

1. Name of person

2. Contact information for this person (if you have)

3. URL of this person's organization and / or URL of articles / media reports about this person

4. Why you think this person is a worthy nominee (in 50 words or less)

5. Your relationship to this person (if any).

Self nominations are absolutely fine and absolutely encouraged!

All nominations must be received by Friday, September 14.

Click here for a list of the kind of people who have been nominated for this award in past years. If you need more information on the Dewey Winburne Community Service Award, please e-mail Hugh.

Increased Community Technology Focus at SXSW 2008

As mentioned above, 2008 Dewey Winburne Community Service Award nominees will be honored at a special ceremony during next year's SXSW Interactive Festival. All nominees are given a free registration to the 2008 event. All nominees will also be given the opportunity to speak on one of the panels about community technology that are scheduled for next March.