Before his software is even released officially it wins the award?
I'm not against him winning but it's a bit soon.
I agree with this.
I do think Vitalik is very deserving. But hype/advertising/media presence is playing at least as much of a role in this award as technical achievements.
It is similar to how in baseball, they give out the gold glove awards, but instead of actually giving them to the best defenders, they give them to the most famous players that aren't outright terrible at defense. So all the great defense, no offense guys get passed over, and they give the award to someone who is great at offense (and thus famous) and sortof above average at defense.