In January 2025 I received the European Open Source Achievement Award. The physical manifestation of that prize was a trophy made of translucent acrylic (or something similar). The blog post I above has a short video where I show it off.

In the year that passed since, we have established an organization for how do the awards going forward in the European Open Source Academy and we have arranged the creation of actual medals for the awardees.

That was the medal we gave the award winners last week at the award ceremony where I handed Greg his prize.

I was however not prepared for it, but as a direct consequence I was handed a medal this year, in recognition for the award a got last year, because now there is a medal. A retroactive medal if you wish. It felt almost like getting the award again. An honor.

The medal design

The medal is made in a shiny metal, roughly 50mm in diameter. In the middle of it is a modern version (with details inspired by PCB looks) of the Yggdrasil tree from old Norse mythology – the “World Tree”. A source of life, a sacred meeting place for gods.

In a circle around the tree are twelve stars, to visualize the EU and European connection.

On the backside, the year and the name are engraved above an EU flag, and the same circle of twelve stars is used there as a margin too, like on the front side.

The medal has a blue and white ribbon, to enable it to be draped over the head and hung from the neck.

The box is sturdy thing in dark blue velvet-like covering with European Open Source Academy printed on it next to the academy’s logo. The same motif is also in the inside of the top part of the box.

Many

I do feel overwhelmed and I acknowledge that I have receive many medals by now. I still want to document them and show them in detail to you, dear reader. To show appreciation; not to boast.