Sysadmin of the Year 2006 announced

Congratulations to all the sysadmins who were nominated for the 2006 SAOTY Award and Michael Beck, Emerging Technologies Group, USA won the grand prize.

Also check out Linux.com article - Winning 'Sysadmin of the Year' is not quite like becoming Miss America:
"You'd think the Sysadmin of the Year winner would get an armful of roses and pour happy tears onto a red-carpeted stage as an overage crooner sings, "Here he comes, Mister Sysadmin of the Year," but this is a different kind of contest. For one thing, there was no swimsuit competition -- although if there had been, winner Michael Beck says he would have worn "orange and black surf shorts."

Miss America contestants often start entering beauty pageants at an early age, but Sysadmin of the Year contestants seem to have skipped this preparatory stage in their contest careers. Instead, they have spent years laboring in fan-droning server rooms and tackling their coworkers' desktop problems, and those coworkers appreciated their efforts enough to nominate a total of 4,820 sysadmins for this unparalleled honor. Of the nominated sysadmins, approximately 2,500 responded to a "Hey! You were nominated!" note, which was required for a complete application."

Winning 'Sysadmin of the Year' is not quite like becoming Miss America