For Outstanding Government Agency IT Achievements
The GCN Awards recognize extraordinary work by agency IT teams whose innovation or achievements using technology during the past 12 months have made a significant impact on the performance of their agencies or the services they provide.
The GCN Awards are administered by Government Computer News, a part of 1105 Government Information Group.
KEY DATES
Call for Entries: May 14, 2010
Nomination Deadline: June 28, 2010
Awards Ceremony: Oct. 19, 2010, in Washington, D.C.
SELECTION CRITERIA AND REQUIREMENTS
Based on group performance rather than the accomplishments of a single individual, the GCN Awards recognize the application of information technologies that led to a significant, measurable improvement in that agency's ability to perform its mission.
Eligibility: Only U.S. federal, state or local agencies are eligible to win. Organizations may be nominated at the department, agency, directorate, bureau or office level. Defense Department nominations may similarly be made at the department, service, command or smaller unit level.
Nominations should pertain to IT projects that were implemented primarily during the past 12 months or projects that produced significant accomplishments during that time period.
Who may submit: Nominations may be submitted by any individual or organization having direct knowledge of the agency IT accomplishment – including members of an agency IT team, their associates or industry partners.
Criteria: Selection of winning IT projects will be based on how the recent application of information technology:
• Provided substantial improvement in government-to-citizen, government-to-business or government-to-government transactions, services or processes.
• Provided substantial improvement in the efficiency or effectiveness of a department, agency or bureau in delivering its mission.
• Solved a significant or long-standing problem that helped advance an agency’s work.
Distinguishing factors: In addition, the GCN Awards judging committee will look for:
• Innovation and risk taking – Did the team implement new and more effective solutions or merely automate processes?
• Evidence of improvements – Does the nomination provide evidence of tangible, quantifiable results or merely general statements?
• Agency leadership – Does the work reflect the leadership of agency IT personnel, working with suppliers, or is it mostly the work of outside providers?
Judging: Nominations are screened by the editorial staff of GCN for qualification. They are then evaluated by a judging panel that includes current and former government CIOs and IT executives. The judging committee will select 10 entries that demonstrated the most significant impact or accomplishment to receive the GCN Award. It also will select a group of honorable mentions.
NOMINATION DATES AND AWARD NOTIFICATION
Call for Nominations: Nominations for 2010 will be accepted, beginning May 14, 2010. Details will be posted on the home page of GCN.com
Deadline for Nominations: Nominations are due at the end of the day, Monday, June 28, 2010.
Notification: Those selected for awards will be notified the week of Aug. 9, 2010 and will be publicly announced on GCN.com the week of Aug. 23, 2010.
Awards presentation: The awards will be conferred at the GCN Awards Gala scheduled Oct. 19, 2010, at the Hilton Washington in Washington, D.C. The winning agencies will also be profiled in GCN’s Oct. 18, 2010 issue.
HOW TO NOMINATE
Nominations must be submitted to Government Computer News, using an electronic nomination form that will be activated on www.GCN.com on May 14, 2010.
Nominations should be succinct – summarizing accomplishments while still providing enough detail and proof of results to help the judges get a sense for why an agency’s IT work deserves special recognition. Historically, the winning nominations were those in which the accomplishments themselves were significant, were clearly explained, and supported by credible evidence or examples.
The following information will be requested on the nomination form:
A. DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS – Briefly describe:
• The nature of the challenge the agency needed to address.
• The IT solution – and key steps – the agency IT team and key stakeholders took to address the challenge.
• What was innovative, enterprising or heroic about the team’s approach?
B. TECHNOLOGY USED – Briefly detail the technologies (hardware, software and services) used to address the challenge and the rationale for selecting them.
C. IMPACT – Briefly describe the significance of the accomplishment to the agency, its employees, its constituents or the public. What specific benefits, cost-savings, improvements in service resulted from the project? How does it position the agency to be more agile, more cost effective in the future?
D. REFERENCES - Include name, title, address, telephone number and e-mail address of one or more people, other than the nominator and nominee, who have direct knowledge of the agency accomplishment for GCN to contact for verification.
The descriptions for Sections A, B, and C should run no more than 500 words in length for each section. Illustrations, slide presentations or other media material will not be accepted.
A list of 2009’s GCN Award Winners, and their stories, can be found at:
http://gcn.com/pages/gcn-awards-2009.aspx
If you have questions or difficulties submitting your material, please contact: Timieka Nichols at GCN / 1105 Government Information Group, at 703-876-5141 or at tnichols@1105govinfo.com.
GCN AWARDS GALA INFORMATION
For information about sponsorships, ticket sales, and reservations for the 2010 GCN Awards Gala, please contact the Events Department of 1105 Government Information Group at 800-746-0099 or Event_Info@1105govinfo.com.