The annual Oracle Excellence Awards include the Oracle Magazine Technologist of the Year Awards, which recognize "individuals in key roles for their extraordinary efforts and contributions to enterprise technology solutions." We're talking architects here, people! So here's a year-end tip of the ArchBeat hat to the 2012 winners:
 | Technologist of the Year: Virtualization Architect Steve Bartholomew, Enterprise Architect, Verizon |
 | Technologist of the Year: Enterprise Architect Arup Nanda, Senior Director of Database Architecture, Starwood Hotels and Resorts |
 | Technologist of the Year: IT Manager Olgay Tas, Product and Service Development Director, TTNET |
 | Technologist of the Year: Cloud Architect Kai Yu, Senior Engineer, Oracle Solutions Engineering Lab, Dell |
It should be noted that two of the winners, Arup Nanda and Kai Yu, are Oracle ACE Directors, members of the top tier in the Oracle ACE Program, which recognizes not just expertise with Oracle technologies, but the willingness to share that expertise with the community. Do you know someone who deserves that kiind of recognition? You can nominate them for entry into the Oracle ACE program here.