Once again, it’s that time of year when our community steps into the spotlight. The DevOps Dozen is back — and nominations are officially open. If you’ve shipped something meaningful, mentored someone, elevated a team, or built the next great platform, this is your moment to share it with the world.
Over the years, these awards have grown into a signal we can trust — honoring the people and products shaping how modern software gets built and run. This year’s program reflects where the market is headed, with deeper attention on AI, platform engineering, and the practical realities of secure software supply chains. There are 24 total awards, split between Community and Tools & Services — a balance that celebrates both the humans who lead and the technologies that make them faster, safer and better.
What’s New, What Matters
A few things to note up front. Community nominations remain open and accessible. For Tools & Services, there’s a $300 fee — not to ring a cash register, but to keep spam out and ensure we’re evaluating serious entries. If a commercial submission doesn’t make the finalist cut, the fee is refunded. We also cap finalists at 10 per commercial category to keep the field competitive and focused. And as always, final selection blends public voting (40%) with judges’ evaluation (60%) — a formula that balances community energy with experienced scrutiny.
Note: Tools/Services vendors aren’t eligible for three of the community awards — check each description for the fine print.
The Categories (All 24)
Community Awards (9):
- Top DevOps Community Evangelist
- Most Innovative DevOps Open Source Project
- DevOps Enterprise Leader of the Year
- Best devopsy.kinsta.cloud Article of the Year
- Best DevOps-Related Video or Audio Podcast
- Best DevOps Survey/ Research/Report
- Best DevOps Event of the Year
- Best DevOps Book of the Year
- Best Application of AI in Enterprise DevOps Practices
Tools & Services Awards (15):
- Best Application of Agentic AI in a DevOps Tool/Platform
- Best New DevOps Service Provider
- Best New DevOps Tool
- Best DevOps for DataOps/Database Solution
- Best DevOps for Mainframe Solution
- Best Testing Service/Tool
- Best Platform Engineering Solution
- Best DevSecOps Solution
- Best Observability Solution
- Best Supply Chain Security Solution
- Top DevOps Vendor Evangelist
- Best Application of Generative AI in a DevOps Tool/Platform
- Best End-to-End DevOps Platform
- DevOps Industry Leader of the Year
- Best DevOps Industry Implementation
If you’re scanning for what’s “new,” you’re not imagining it: Agentic AI and Generative AI each get their own category on the tooling side, and Platform Engineering has a dedicated slot as this practice matures from trend to table stakes. Likewise, Supply Chain Security Solution earns standalone recognition — reflecting how software integrity, attestations and provenance moved from “nice to have” to “non-negotiable.”
How it Works (and Why it’s Fair)
The process is transparent and deliberate:
- Nominations: Open to the public. For Tools & Services, the $300 nomination ensures signal over noise. Community nominations remain free.
- Finalists: We limit commercial finalists to 10 per category; if you don’t make it, your fee is refunded. Once finalists are set, public voting opens across all 24 categories.
- Winners: Determined by a 40/60 blend—community vote (40%) and judges’ scores (60%). Finalists receive badges and recognition across the Techstrong network; winners receive trophies and the full spotlight they’ve earned.
The Judges
Every year, we assemble a panel that’s both broad in experience and sharp in judgment. This year’s Honorable Judges:
- Alan Shimel — CEO, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Techstrong Group, Inc.
- Mitchell Ashley — VP & Practice Lead, Software Lifecycle Engineering, Futurum
- Tracy Ragan — OpenSSF and CDF Board Member
- Garima Bajpai — Senior DevOps Leader and Advisor
- Ketan Jani — Staff Site Reliability Engineer, Apple Inc.
It’s a strong mix of industry leadership, community credibility, and day-to-day operating reality — the combination you want when the mandate is to separate sizzle from substance.
Dates You’ll Care About
- Nominations: Open now and run through mid-October (get yours in early; the best entries tell a crisp story with outcomes).
- Finalists: Announced soon after; voting begins immediately thereafter.
- Winners: Revealed at Predict 2026, our annual kickoff to the tech year — where trends and truth meet.
Why These Awards Still Matter
DevOps has always been bigger than tools — and yet tools matter. Culture and process drive outcomes — and yet champions matter. The Dozen sit at that intersection. When a community evangelist rallies practitioners around a better way to ship, that changes outcomes. When a platform reduces toil and cognitive load, that changes outcomes. When we hold ourselves to higher standards in software integrity, that — again — changes outcomes.
That’s why we do this. Not for trophies, but for momentum. Not for vanity, but for validation. Not just to say “good job,” but to say “this is the work that moved us forward.”
If you’re reading this, you likely know who deserves a nomination: the unsung maintainer who shipped the fix at 2 a.m., the team that turned a monolith into a product platform, the product that finally made security guardrails feel like guardrails—not handcuffs. Tell us about them.
Nominations are open. Show the community what great looks like. Good luck to everyone who participates — and may the best DevOps win.
Celebrating Noteworthy DevOps Dozen Winners (2020–2024)
You can learn a great deal about the industry by examining past winners. Here are some of the past winners over the last 4-5 years. It is a retrospective on standout winners who’ve shaped DevOps culture, tools, and leadership:
- Best End-to-End DevOps Tool/Service – GitLab (2020)
GitLab’s all-in-one platform accelerated DevOps workflows with collaboration baked into CI/CD. - Best CI/CD Tool – CircleCI (2020)
The go-to modern CI/CD platform empowering teams with reliability and speed. - Best Value Stream Management Tool – Digital.ai Value Stream Platform (2020)
Bridged Agile planning, security, test automation, and AI analytics into a seamless delivery flow.
- DevOps Executive of the Year – Shlomi Ben-Haim (JFrog) (2021)
Recognized for guiding DevOps tooling evolution during a pivotal era. - Best DevOps Repo/GitOps Tool – Red Hat OpenShift GitOps (2021)
Helped teams scale GitOps workflows securely across clusters. - Best Observability Solution – Honeycomb (2021)
Empowered teams to dig deep into performance and reliability signals.
- Best End-to-End DevOps Tool/Service – JFrog Software Supply Chain Platform (2023)
Offered comprehensive supply-chain workflow integration, from dev to production. - Best CI/CD Tool – CloudBees CI/CDRO (2023)
Marked its ninth consecutive award, demonstrating leadership in enterprise CI/CD. - Best Platform Engineering Solution – Harness Internal Developer Portal (2024)
Recognized as the leading solution enabling self-service capabilities for engineering teams. - Best Application of AI in DevOps Tool/Platform – GitLab Duo (2024)
Elevated DevOps by integrating AI-driven workflows seamlessly.
Each of these winners has done more than just collect trophies — they’ve changed the fabric of the DevOps ecosystem, fostering efficiency, security and innovation.
Call to Action — Nominate Now!
Be a champion — recognize the standout DevOps talent and innovations of tomorrow. Here’s your guide to getting started:
1. Submit a Nomination – Nominations are open through mid-October. Go ahead and shine the spotlight on those who deserve it.
2. Understand the Rules –
- Community categories: Free to enter.
- Tools & Services: A $300 fee (refunded if not a finalist) to maintain high signal and quality submissions.
3. Stay Tuned for Finalists – After mid-October, we’ll unveil the finalists and open public voting. Get the word out!
4. Join the Celebration at Predict – Winners will be announced at the Predict virtual event in early January. Finalists and winners receive badges, trophies, and recognition across the Techstrong network.
