I’m very pleased to report that the OpenID Certification program has won the 2018 Identity Innovation Award at the IDnext conference. While the OpenID Connect standard won the 2012 European Identity Award for best innovation/new standard and has been widely deployed since then, a standard is only as good as its implementations. The OpenID Foundation created the OpenID Certification program to help ensure that high-quality, interoperable implementations become the norm. The significant global impact of the OpenID Certification program was a reason for its selection for the Identity Innovation Award. It recognizes that the innovative use of self-certification, with freely available testing tools, has resulted in substantial participation in the certification program, improving the security, quality, and interoperability of OpenID Connect implementations worldwide. Special thanks are due to Roland Hedberg for writing the certification software and to Hans Zandbelt and Filip Skokan for also being key members of the development and operations team. Certification committee members Don Thibeau, Mike Leszcz, and Mike Jones contribute to strategy and planning for the program. And many members of the OpenID Connect working group helped define the requirements in the certification profiles. The contributions of the many engineers worldwide who helped us “test the tests”, helping validate and improve them, were also significant. The IDnext press release announcing the award describes the opinion of the award committee as follows:

The significant global impact of the OpenID Certification program was a reason for its selection for the Identity Innovation Award. It recognizes that the innovative use of self-certification, with freely available testing tools, has resulted in substantial participation in the certification program, improving the security, quality, and interoperability of OpenID Connect implementations worldwide.

Thanks to IDnext and the awards committee for recognizing the impact of the OpenID Certification program!