Virtuti Interneti

In 2010, the Coordination Center for Top Level National Domains established a special award, Virtuti Interneti (Service to the Internet), which is the only one of its kind in the Runet.

It is awarded to representatives of the worldwide web community, business, sciences and the government who have made a significant contribution to the development of the Runet and the global Internet. Candidates are shortlisted by the Programs Committee of the Russian Internet Governance Forum (RIGF), and the awards ceremony and subsequent lecture by the winner have become a tradition for the RIGF program.

Virtuti Interneti winners:

2010 – Alexei Soldatov, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, Chairman of the Internet Development Foundation Supervisory Board, co-founder of the Runet.

2011 – Markus Kummer, Vice President of the Internet Society (ISOC), Coordinator of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), Co-chairman of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) under the UN Secretary General.

2012 – Igor Shchegolev, Russian Minister of Communications and Mass Media, an active force behind the establishment of the .РФ domain, initiator of the creation of the RIGF.

2013 – Dr. Steve Crocker, Chairman of the Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), author of the first RFC format, founder of the technical community of Internet developers.

2014 – Olaf Kolkman, Director of NLnet Labs, former chairman of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), prominent Internet expert.

2015 – Dr. Paul Vixie, one of the founders of the modern Internet, developer and author of today's Internet protocols and systems.