Microsoft updates MVP program with monthly awards, July renewals for all

Microsoft has made some changes to its MVP award program. Beginning this month, Microsoft will recognize MVPs every month, rather than every quarter, and all MVP re-awards will be done in July.

The goal is to enable "great people to join the program as fast as possible," according to a blog post by Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Developer eXperience & Evangelism (DX) group.

Guggenheimer stated that the MVP review model, which has been based on four award cycles per year, really didn't give Microsoft the flexibility necessary to quickly recognize community leaders and technical experts as Microsoft MVPs. And because of that the MVP awards were divided up into four sub-groups, he stated.

"We hear all the time "I am a January MVP," or "I am an April MVP," he stated. "That's not our goal - we want a unified program, providing a consistent experience. To that end, we heard your feedback and that is all about to change."

"As part of our commitment to continuously improve, we are also adding new benefits to the program focused on enabling new learning opportunities for you," he stated. Microsoft has recorded a video announcement with more details about the changes to the MVP program.

One of the people who has just received the award as part of the new program is Natraj Yegnaraman, a Dynamics CRM expert.

"I was pleasantly surprised to see a MVP award notification email, when I woke up today morning," Yegnaraman stated in a blog post. "I think these changes are great, as this ...