Java Champions Program

The Java Champions program was launched in June 2005 at the JavaOne Conference in San Francisco.

Sun recognized that there are leaders in the Java Developer Community. The Java Champions program is an effort to strengthen and encourage this community of leaders. As a part of the Sun Community Champions program, the title is created to recognize the aspirants in the various aspects of the Java technology ecosystem—including authors, trainers, professors, researchers, developers, and JUG leaders.

The Java community itself nominates most candidates, and selects new Java Champions through a peer review process. Out of a pool of nearly 6,000,000 Java developers worldwide, there are more than 85 Java Champions - so it is an elite group.

When excited individuals form into committed groups that develop new and interesting ways to promote the Java Platform, then communities of passionate “Champions” is born. Though it's possible to compete with individual products however it's tough to compete against the entire communities.

The Java Champions program is sponsored by Sun Microsystems and is an effort to recognize leaders in the Java Community and invite them to participate in the development of the Java platform in collaboration with Sun engineers and Java Luminaries.”

Java Champions Community aims to build an informal group of Java technology proponents outside of Sun Microsystems to which the Java Development team and engineers could have meaningful discussions with. Champions from within Java Eco-System includes:

  • Java Luminaries: senior developers; architects; consultants; conference speakers, etc
  • Academics/University Professors
  • Authors of Java-related content (online & print)
  • Java User Group (JUG) Leaders and the Leaders of online Java portals

Sun wants to engage and recognize the segments within the Java Eco-System through the Java Champions program. Sun wants to give these leaders the chance to provide feedback, ideas, and direction to grow the Java Platform. This interchange may be in the form of technical discussions and/or community building activities with Sun's Java Development and Technology Outreach teams. Sun shares a common goal with the Java developer community i.e. the technology adoption of the Java Platform by software developers worldwide.