Meet the first 2026 Zappy Award monthly winners: May 2026

Overview

Zapier announced the first winners of its new Zappy Awards program, which celebrates builders who use Zapier to solve real problems at their companies. Rachael Silvano built a points economy for a 140,000-member community without development experience, while Jeff Hirsch established enterprise governance for Zapier across five teams at Redis in just weeks.

Key Takeaways

The Zappy Awards program received 50 submissions in its first month, with winners selected for solving specific, measurable business problems using Zapier.
Rachael Silvano created a seven-step Zapier workflow that bridges Airtable and her community platform to enable a points economy her platform couldn't natively support.
Jeff Hirsch implemented SSO, SCIM, user provisioning, governance, and intake processes for Zapier across Redis in weeks with no prior Zapier experience.
Both winners were unconventional builders: Rachael lacks development background and Jeff had never used Zapier before their respective projects.
Strong Zappy Award submissions shared specificity about problems solved and concrete details about implementation and business impact.

Stats & Key Facts

#140,000 active members in E-Learning Heroes community where Rachael built the points system
#50 submissions received since Zappy Awards program launched
#5 teams at Redis gained Zapier access through Jeff's governance implementation
#7-step workflow in Rachael's points economy system
#6 tier thresholds that trigger rank changes in the community platform

Rachael Silvano: Building a Community Points Economy from Scratch

Rachael Silvano, Community Strategy Lead at Articulate, identified a critical gap in her company's E-Learning Heroes community platform and solved it without a development background.

›E-Learning Heroes has 140,000 active members but lacked a native points economy to reward peer contributions
›Existing vendor solutions were cost-prohibitive for the community's budget
›Built a seven-step Zapier workflow acting as a translation layer between Airtable and the community platform
›Workflow automatically applies rank changes when members reach one of six tier thresholds

The challenge was straightforward: the community platform had no way to reward members for answering peer questions, creating guides, or contributing in other ways. This was a missed opportunity since peer-to-peer support significantly offsets Articulate's support costs. Without a native solution and unable to afford third-party vendors, Rachael took matters into her own hands.

Her solution involved creating a workflow that leverages JavaScript transforms and webhook calls to handle authentication, pull user IDs, and apply new ranks inside the platform. The remarkable aspect is that Rachael accomplished this in an afternoon using Zapier Copilot, even though she had never written API calls before. She transformed a tool never designed for this purpose into a platform capability that now operates across the entire community.

The system became live and immediately began supporting the gamification strategy Rachael designed to encourage the peer-to-peer behavior that makes the community valuable. By creating a points economy, she not only solved a technical problem but also unlocked a business outcome that wasn't possible before.

Jeff Hirsch: Enterprise Governance at Speed

Jeff Hirsch, Systems Architect at Redis, approached Zapier implementation strategically, building governance infrastructure before scaling adoption.

›Established SSO, SCIM, and user provisioning across five teams despite having no prior Zapier experience
›Created governance through shared folders, service accounts, and restricted actions on sensitive apps
›Implemented an intake process that allows teams to request use cases without IT becoming a bottleneck
›Completed full enterprise implementation in a matter of weeks using MCP and SDK integration

When Jeff joined Redis, Zapier wasn't broken-it simply didn't exist as a managed resource. Multiple teams wanted to use it, but no one owned governance, success criteria weren't defined, and every use case was handled as a one-off project. Rather than diving into building individual workflows, Jeff recognized the need for foundational infrastructure first.

His phased approach prioritized access control and governance. He implemented SSO and SCIM provisioning to manage user accounts securely, created shared folders and service accounts for team collaboration, and restricted actions on sensitive applications to prevent unauthorized changes. These foundational elements prevented chaos as demand grew. He then built an intake process that allowed teams to formally request automation use cases, preventing IT from becoming a bottleneck while maintaining control.

What made this implementation remarkable was the timeline and Jeff's team collaboration. Working with project manager Akissi Lewis to maintain momentum and Jason Illiscas to handle Okta integration, Jeff moved from zero Zapier knowledge to a fully governed enterprise system in weeks. The proof of success wasn't in the rollout plan-it was in organic demand. Teams began requesting access and proposing use cases before formal enablement even completed, demonstrating genuine adoption rather than mandated implementation.

What Made These Submissions Stand Out

Among 50 Zappy Award submissions, the winning entries shared common characteristics that elevated them above the rest.

›Winners demonstrated extreme specificity about the problems they solved, not vague descriptions
›Both could articulate precise business impact: Rachael's 140,000-member community with no reward mechanism, Jeff's five teams with no governance
›Submissions included concrete technical details about implementation approach and architecture
›Winners provided measurable outcomes and evidence of adoption or business value

The Zappy Awards program received 50 submissions since launch, demonstrating strong interest from Zapier users. However, the strongest entries shared a focus on specificity. Successful builders didn't submit generic descriptions of 'improving efficiency' or 'automating workflows.' Instead, they identified precise problems with clear business context. Rachael could name her exact problem: a community of 140,000 members where peer answers were incentivized by nothing. Jeff could describe his problem in numbers: five teams wanting Zapier access with zero governance in place.

This specificity extended to implementation details. Winners explained exactly how they solved the problem, what technologies they integrated, and what outcomes they achieved. This level of detail made submissions credible and reproducible. It also signaled that the builders had actually completed the work and understood its impact.

Unconventional Paths to Building

Neither winner came from backgrounds one might expect, which Zapier identifies as a pattern worth celebrating.

›Rachael Silvano is a Community Strategy Lead with no development background
›Jeff Hirsch had zero Zapier experience before being hired at Redis and tasked with building governance
›Both solved problems outside their traditional domains using Zapier as an enabling platform
›This pattern suggests that the most impactful builders often come from business and operations roles, not engineering teams

The Zappy Awards program appears designed to surface builders from across organizations, not just engineering teams. Rachael's background in community strategy gave her the business context to recognize the points economy problem, but she lacked the development experience traditionally required to build API integrations. Yet with Zapier Copilot's assistance, she crossed that gap in an afternoon.

Similarly, Jeff's architecture background didn't initially include Zapier expertise. He was brought in to solve a governance and access problem, and he used Zapier as the vehicle to do it. His Systems Architect perspective meant he thought about governance first and workflows second-an unusual but highly effective prioritization. Both examples suggest that the best automation builders may be those who understand business problems deeply and can wield tools like Zapier to solve them, regardless of their original technical specialization.

How the Zappy Awards Program Works

Zapier launched the Zappy Awards to identify and celebrate builders who quietly solve real problems within their organizations.

›Program launched in May 2026 searching for people who identify problems and use Zapier to address them
›Monthly awards structure recognizes builders throughout the year
›Winners are selected based on specificity of problem definition and quality of solution
›Program has already attracted 50 submissions, indicating strong early interest

The Zappy Awards represent Zapier's initiative to highlight the work of builders who operate outside the spotlight. These are the people who see inefficiencies at their companies, pick up Zapier, and engineer solutions that meaningfully improve how work gets done. Rather than waiting for annual awards or case studies to highlight impact, Zapier decided to recognize winners monthly throughout the year.

The program's rapid success surprised even Zapier: they received 50 submissions quickly and found the overall quality higher than anticipated. This led them to accelerate the announcement of the first winners rather than wait for the original timeline. The early momentum suggests that many organizations have builders quietly making impact with Zapier, and the awards program provides visibility and recognition for their work.

Key Themes in Zappy Award Submissions

The first batch of submissions revealed patterns about where Zapier creates value and how builders approach automation challenges.

›Winners identified gaps in platform capabilities and built workarounds rather than waiting for vendors to build solutions
›Both winning projects addressed foundational organizational needs: community engagement and enterprise access governance
›Solutions leveraged Zapier's flexibility to extend platforms and services beyond their original design intent
›Builders articulated business context alongside technical implementation, connecting automation to measurable outcomes

What emerges from these early winners is a pattern of pragmatic problem-solving. Both Rachael and Jeff faced problems their existing tools couldn't solve natively. Rather than accepting that limitation, they explored alternatives and found Zapier could bridge the gap. This represents a shift in how organizations approach gaps in their software stack: instead of waiting years for vendor roadmaps or spending heavily on custom development, builders can now quickly implement solutions themselves.

The submissions also revealed that the most impactful Zapier work often happens in foundational layers rather than at the edges. A points economy isn't a flashy feature, but it fundamentally changes how a community operates. Enterprise governance isn't glamorous, but it enables teams to safely adopt new tools. These are the kinds of invisible infrastructure problems that don't get highlighted in case studies but drive real organizational value.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Rachael Silvano build a points economy without development experience?

Rachael used Zapier Copilot to work through the API calls she'd never written before. Her seven-step workflow connects Airtable to the community platform, with JavaScript transforms and webhook calls handling the technical details. She completed the entire system in an afternoon.

What did Jeff Hirsch implement at Redis with Zapier?

Jeff established SSO, SCIM, user provisioning across five teams, governance through shared folders and service accounts, restricted actions on sensitive apps, and an intake process for teams to request use cases. He completed this full enterprise implementation in weeks despite having no prior Zapier experience.

How many submissions did the Zappy Awards program receive?

The program received 50 submissions since launching in May 2026. The quality exceeded expectations, prompting Zapier to accelerate announcing the first monthly winners.

What characteristics made the winning submissions stand out?

The strongest entries were extremely specific about the problems they solved, with concrete details about business context and technical implementation. Winners articulated measurable outcomes and provided evidence of adoption or business value, rather than submitting vague descriptions of efficiency gains.

How large is the E-Learning Heroes community where Rachael's points system operates?

E-Learning Heroes has 140,000 active members. Rachael's points system is now live across the entire community, providing rewards for peer answers, guides, and other contributions.

The Zappy Awards program demonstrates that the most impactful automation often comes from unexpected places-community strategists and systems architects solving specific business problems with tools and determination rather than formal training.