Created and personally awarded by Dr. Werner Vogels, Amazon’s Chief Technology Officer, the Now Go Build Award recognizes exceptional individuals who embody the spirit of invention, community leadership, and hands-on building. These are developers, educators, and technologists who don’t just use AWS—they elevate others, scale communities, and turn real-world problems into real-world solutions.
Since its inception, the award has highlighted a select group of AWS Heroes and community leaders whose work reflects long-term, meaningful impact. Below is a consolidated timeline of known recipients, along with their contributions and primary announcement links from Werner Vogels.
2025 — Raphael Francis Quisumbing
🔗 Announcement: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wernervogels_this-years-now-go-build-award-goes-to-raphael-activity-7401870859310747648-3XJn
Bio:
Raphael is known as a “renaissance developer”—a builder who connects deep technical expertise with community growth and education. An AWS Hero since 2015, AWS Authorized Instructor, and longtime co-lead of AWS User Group Philippines (since 2013), he has spent over a decade helping developers grow through mentorship, workshops, events, and cloud literacy programs. Raphael comes from a family of educators and carries that legacy forward by teaching thousands across the region.
He represents a generation of developers who blend hands-on building, public learning, and people-centered leadership.
2024 — Rossana “Roxs” Suarez
🔗 Announcement: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wernervogels_i-had-the-honour-of-presenting-this-year-activity-7269714613733134337-JPsx/
Bio:
Roxs is a highly respected community leader known for empowering women in tech and fostering inclusive, high-impact technical communities. As a mentor, speaker, and organizer, she has created safe spaces for new and experienced builders alike to develop confidence and technical mastery. Her work embodies the principle that great builders lift others with them, not just themselves.
2023 — Luc van Donkersgoed
🔗 Announcement: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wernervogels_aws-reinvent2023-awscommunity-activity-7135136044202496000-RuC3/
Bio:
Luc is an AWS Serverless Hero, engineer, and prolific community educator. His deep technical content—covering serverless patterns, cloud architecture, and scalability—has influenced developers worldwide. Luc’s open-source work, conference talks, and thought leadership make complex cloud concepts more accessible to builders at all levels. His dedication to clear, practical teaching reflects the heart of the Now Go Build mission.
2022 — Bhuvaneswari Subramani
🔗 Announcement: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wernervogels_my-favorite-part-of-reinvent-is-meeting-activity-7003240238055636992-ncaF/
Bio:
Bhuvaneswari is a distinguished technologist and one of the most influential AWS community leaders in India. As an AWS Hero and educator, she has helped thousands understand cloud architecture, DevOps, and modernization. Her workshops, mentorship, and sustained contributions have made her an anchor in the region’s AWS learning ecosystem. She is celebrated for her clarity, generosity, and technical rigor.
2021 — Matt Coulter
🔗 Highlighted during Werner’s re:Invent 2021 keynote https://dev.to/aws-heroes/aws-reinvent-2021-was-a-delight-58g4#werner
Bio:
Matt is a Serverless Hero and creator of the CDK Patterns project, which became one of the most widely used learning and reference tools for AWS CDK developers. His work has accelerated global adoption of infrastructure-as-code through well-documented, production-ready patterns. Featured prominently by Werner Vogels in the 2021 keynote, Matt exemplifies builders who improve the world by making complex systems more approachable.
Why the Now Go Build Award Is Rare — and Hard to Get
🎯 Only one recipient per year — Recent years show exactly one builder honored each cycle, making the award highly selective.
🔒 No public application process or open nominations — Recipients are chosen at Werner’s discretion.
🕰 Long-term, sustained impact — Those who receive the award tend to have years of consistent contributions in building, mentoring, educating, or leading within the AWS ecosystem.
🌐 Deep community leadership & global reach — Winners frequently are part of the top tier of AWS community contributors and have demonstrated influence across regions, projects, and developer communities.
🧠 Systems thinking, real-world solutions, and human-centric judgment — The award seems to honor more than coding prowess: it celebrates people who apply cloud technology thoughtfully, mentor others, and balance technical depth with real-world context.
🔹 “Renaissance Developer” qualities – people who combine deep technical skill with broad context, systems thinking, and human-centered judgment. They don’t just write code — they build communities, mentor others, and architect real-world solutions.
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/werner-vogels-amazon-cto-predictions-2026
Because of this — It’s a recognition reserved for a tiny fraction of all AWS community contributors, those who have spent years building both systems and communities.
