From NodeConf EU 2024 – The OpenJS Foundation is proud to honor six outstanding community members with the JavaScriptLandia Community Awards, recognizing their contributions across education, standards, security, and community-building. These awards celebrate the creativity, commitment, and energy that make our community thrive. Winners were recognized at NodeConf EU on November 5th, receiving plaques and digital badges to commemorate their achievements.
JavaScriptLandia serves as the OpenJS Foundation’s supporter community, empowering individual members to pledge their support for OpenJS projects and engage with the wider JavaScript ecosystem through badges and rewards. The OpenJS Foundation’s CPC leaders and staff reviewed a strong field of nominees submitted by the global JavaScript community to select this year’s award recipients.
2024 JavaScriptLandia Community Award Categories and Winners
Six awards are presented across the following categories:
- Unsung Hero
- Leading By Example
- Outstanding Contribution from a New Arrival
- Pathfinder Awards
Unsung Hero nominees are recognized for their willingness to do things that aren’t high profile, glamorous, or even fun, but are important for a well-functioning project and community. Unsung Heroes often do this work with a smile, even if they aren’t being recognized regularly for their contributions.
Leading by Example nominees are known for demonstrating leadership qualities in their communities that reflect OpenJS Foundation values, like being humble, helpful and hopeful. Exemplary leaders embody open source in spirit and in practice and inspire others to do the same.
Outstanding Contribution from a New Arrival nominees are new participants in our project spaces who are making a big difference – from contributing new ideas, new leadership on a project work stream, helping with project operations, to community building and more. These individuals are rising stars who help bring fresh energy to our projects.
Pathfinder Awards nominees are people from across the JavaScript ecosystem who have made significant contributions in key areas for OpenJS, including Education, Standards, and Security. These individuals not only move things forward, they bring people along with them as they go, helping to light the way for all.
The 2024 JavaScriptLandia Awards recipients are:
Unsung Hero
Wes Todd
Wes Todd is a software engineer recognized for his impactful contributions to projects like Express, where he helped lead the Express Forward initiative. Through this initiative, Wes guided the transition of the Technical Committee to a new team, which soon shipped Express v5—the first major release in a decade. He is an active member of the Node.js Web Server Frameworks Team and the Package Maintenance Working Group. Wes currently works at Netflix.
Leading by Example
Ulises Gascon
Ulises Gascón is a member of the Express Technical Committee (TC), a Node.js core collaborator and releaser, and a TC39 delegate.
Ulises has been a leader in creating sustainability opportunities for our projects. He created the Sustainability Collab Space and is driving government support for infrastructure support and development for the Express project. He also actively participates in several of our working groups, from standards to security to the Cross Project Council. He also released a book this year for Node.js for Beginners.
Outstanding Contribution from a New Arrival
Marco Ippolito
Finally, Node.js supports TypeScript. Marco worked tirelessly to implement TypeScript inside Node.js, working with both the Node.js and TypeScript maintainers to make it happen. He created a Node.js TypeScript Working Group and in a surprisingly short amount of time, made recommendations and reached consensus with the Node.js Technical Steering Committee to move this forward.
Pathfinder for Security
Chris de Almeida
Chris de Almeida is an active participant across the OpenJS Foundation, from the Cross Project Council to Standards to Security. He is being awarded for his work in Security Collab Space, where he helped shape many of the guidance. Chris always rolls up his sleeves and does the work with a positive spirit. He also worked to support the jQuery Core team on security. Chris is TC39-TG3: Security Co-Chair, the TC39 co-chair and also the TC39 delegate for IBM.
Pathfinder for Standards
Samina Husain
Samina is Secretary General for Ecma International, the standards setting organization responsible for the ECMAScript specification, the standard for JavaScript. In nearly 2 years in her role, Samina has brought energy and professionalism to the role, which helps fuel greater efficiencies and drives participation. The OpenJS Standards Collaboration Space nominated and selected Samina for this award.
Pathfinder for Education
Natalia Venditto
Natalia Venditto's exceptional contributions to the JavaScript ecosystem through her comprehensive education series on O'Reilly have had a profound impact on learners of all levels. Her work not only demystifies complex JavaScript concepts but also fosters an inclusive learning environment, making the technology accessible to a wider audience. With a focus on practical, hands-on teaching, Natalia bridges the gap between theory and real-world application, empowering developers to advance their skills and careers. Her dedication to sharing knowledge, mentorship, and driving standards within the community exemplifies her as a leader in education.