The MediaWiki software won a special PHP prize in the second Trophées du Libre, a competition for free software, last Thursday. The award was presented at a ceremony in Soissons, France.

Receiving the award on behalf of the MediaWiki developers was Ryo. In announcing the victory on the wikitech mailing list, Ryo commented, "Many people often forget that, backing Wikimedia Foundation's projects, lies MediaWiki, an amazing piece of software. Today developers' efforts were recognized."

As part of the award, the MediaWiki team received several prizes. These include an actual trophy (fittingly enough), an HP dual-boot laptop, the possibility of some hosting from awards sponsor Nexen Services, and four subscriptions to DirectionPHP.

Plans for what to do with these prizes are still being discussed, and it is not certain that all of them will be put to use. The hosting, for example, is a limited arrangement and it is unclear whether it will be of much help to the Wikimedia Foundation. Brion Vibber suggested that the laptop might come in handy at the upcoming Wikimania conference, after which it will likely go to developer Tim Starling.

Note: Last week, it was incorrectly reported that MediaWiki was submitted to the awards jury by Vibber. It was actually Ryo who entered MediaWiki into the competition.