Individuals worldwide are working tirelessly to combat online abuse, spam, malware and more. One of those was our very own Mary Litynski, whose dedication, excellence, perseverance and work behind the scenes of M3AAWG and in industry helped fight online abuse.
In her honor, M3AAWG has created an annual award (https://www.m3aawg.org/events/m3aawg-mary-litynski-award) that will recognize the lifetime achievements of an individual who has significantly contributed to making the Internet safer for all, reflecting that same work ethic and dedication.
Nominations can be made here, https://www.m3aawg.org/events/m3aawg-mary-litynski-award.
The M3AAWG Mary Litynski Award will be presented at our 57th general meeting (https://www.m3aawg.org/upcoming-meetings) the week of February 20, 2023, where the winner will address his or her work.
Through this award, M3AAWG seeks to bring attention to the remarkable work that is done far from the public eye over a significant period of time -- work undertaken by dedicated and driven individuals for the greater good.
Award Criteria:
- The nominated person has made a significant contribution to reducing spam, fighting bots or malware, or safeguarding other aspects of online messaging over a significant period.
- The person's work can be related to messaging on any platform, including mobile devices and social networks.
- The person's work can be related to a particular country or it can be global in scope.
- The nominated body of work can be technical, related to public policy, or be educational in nature. In the final analysis, end-users should be safer as a result of the endeavors.
- The recognized work contributes to building and maintaining a trusted environment for online messaging.
Recent award winners include Troy Hunt, founder of Have I Been Pwned, for his work on helping consumers know they’ve been breached; Alex Bobotek, a leader in mobile spam prevention who has spent two decades striving to make a rapidly evolving worldwide mobile messaging ecosystem safer for all; and Dr. Cristine Hoepers, Ph.D., of CERT.br, the Brazilian national Computer Emergency Response Team for work in incident management, Internet best practices development, and information security training to reduce online abuse in Brazil and across Latin America.
Other winners and associated videos can be found here, https://www.m3aawg.org/events/m3aawg-mary-litynski-award-recipients. Nominate someone here, https://www.m3aawg.org/events/m3aawg-mary-litynski-award