DrupalCon Portland starts today, so it seems a good time to start thinking about the 2024 Advent Calendar!
Advent Calendar? In May?
If there’s one thing I learned last year, it’s start early! We had a few hairy moments last year, and a couple of later nights than I would have liked, so this year I want to get the ball moving early.
Why a Drupal Advent Calendar?
For fun, mostly!
But also to promote the great Drupal projects and the people working on them.
It started on a whim in 2022, when I had the idea at the last possible moment, as I was falling asleep on the last day of November. As there wasn’t time to organise anything more complex, I set about writing a blog post about a different Drupal module or project each day in the run up to Christmas. I hadn’t anticipated how much work it would be. Thankfully it was also a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it enough to want to do it again. But I also didn’t want to do it all on my own. You can still find the 2022 Advent Calendar here.
In 2023, I decided on a similar approach, didn’t want to write it all myself. So I petitioned friends and acquaintances, with the aim of having a different person write each door entry. I started recruiting people at DrupalCon Lille, which in hindsight was too late. I got a great response, and really love the content that was created for it. We managed to complete the calendar and have a door every day, but a few of them were right to the wire. I had written a couple of backup entries, and a couple of times I was hovering over the publish button on one when the actual entry arrived. The 2023 advent calendar is here.
This year, I would like to avoid panic, but also involve as many people as possible, and not limit it to people I know. I would like as many people as possible to be involved.
And that means starting early!
The Theme - People of Drupal
The doors I enjoyed most last year were the ones celebrating the contributions people make to Drupal, and especially the ones telling stories.
I would like that aspect to be the focus of the 2024 calendar, with each door being about a person involved in a Drupal project or community.
Is there someone you’ve worked with, or who has inspired you? Have you great stories about their contribution? Would you like to see them recognised on the Advent calendar?
While we want to see everyone get the recognition they deserve, we would especially love to hear about “unsung heroes”, the people who might not be in the spotlight, but quietly contribute to their projects and communities.
Who can take part?
Anyone in the Drupal community is welcome to get involved. It doesn’t mater if you’ve been in the community for one day or twenty years. All you need is an enthusiasm to take part, and someone who has inspired you.
If you would like to submit multiple ideas about different people, that’s great, though we aim to have each door by a different author.
While we’d love to accept everyone’s entry, we may get more submissions than we have doors for, so apologies if we have to turn some away. Also, it’s possible we’ll receive multiple ideas for the same person. If that happens, we’ll have to pick one. If we don’t accept yours because of another submission about the same person, we’ll do our best to give you an opportunity to try again with another person.
The Timeline
- Open call for Ideas - 2024-05-06
- Final date for idea submissions - 2024-08-05
- Inform successful idea submitters - 2024-09-01
- First drafts received - 2024-10-04
- Final edits complete - 2024-11-18
- Artwork complete - 2024-11-18
- Final scheduling of doors - 2024-11-25
- First Advent calendar door opens - 2024-12-01
How can I get involved?
Who is the Drupal community member who inspires you?
Put their name, and tell us why they inspire you, on this form.
You’ve got until the beginning of August, so get your thinking cap on!
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