Kristen Pol Honored with 2025 Aaron Winborn Award at DrupalCon Atlanta

Kristen Pol, Co-Founder of Quant CDN, has been named the 2025 recipient of the Aaron Winborn Award during DrupalCon Atlanta. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the award, a milestone that was commemorated with a newly sculpted piece by Andrew Eck.

The Aaron Winborn Award is one of the Drupal community’s highest honors. It was created in 2015 to celebrate the life and contributions of Aaron Winborn, a respected developer and advocate who passed away from ALS. The award recognizes individuals who demonstrate integrity, kindness, and a sustained commitment to the Drupal project and its people.

Kristen’s impact spans years of technical leadership and community support. She co-authored the Drupal 7 multilingual guide and led the Experience Builder demo design system. More importantly, she is known as someone who shows up — helping others, mentoring contributors, and doing it all with professionalism and heart.

In her emotional acceptance speech, Kristen shared personal reflections on the challenges she faced during the pandemic. 

“This photo here, I look really happy,” she said, gesturing to a slide behind her. “But this was actually during severe lockdown, and I had been going through a very dark time.” 

She wore green to acknowledge mental health awareness and used her platform to urge the community to reach out to one another. “I'm fine isn't necessarily 'I'm fine.’”

Kristen dedicated her award to the memory of Nick Austin and expressed deep gratitude to Salsa Digital, which has sponsored her open-source contribution time for over three years. She also thanked her children, Aaron and Jacob, who have contributed to Drupal’s Starshot initiative, and her husband Josh for standing beside her through more than 20 years of involvement with Drupal. 

“Come for the code, stay for the community... that is so very true for myself,” 

she said. She notes that she won't be where she is if Drupal isn't community it is. She urged her fellow community members to look out for each other and thank the ones who maker them seen.

The award is organized by the Drupal Community Working Group and supported by the Drupal Association. Each year, a selection committee made up of past winners and CWG members chooses the recipient. The award includes a scholarship and stipend to attend DrupalCon.