It's time to give a shout-out — and a nomination — to your favorite public-sector IT professional, project or department in California. Nominations are now being accepted for the prestigious "Best of California" award, a project of the Center for Digital Government.
The "Best of California" program is the highest level of professional acknowledgement within the state's public-sector IT community. The program was established to recognize IT professionals in California's state and local government and education organizations for their dedication, hard work and contributions.
The nomination deadline is June 13. Click here for more information about the contest, judging criteria or to submit a nomination.
An Evaluation Committee will review submissions in the following categories and select recipients. An awards ceremony will be held during the California Digital Government Summit, to be held Sept. 18 in Sacramento. Awards will be given in the following categories:
Management Award:
Demonstrated Excellence in Project Management: Awarded to individual staff or managers who have shown extraordinary skill and responsibility in managing a specific technology-related initiative through all phases of development, from conceptualization to deployment. The winner of this award will be determined on the basis of the overall success of the specific project, as well as the vision and leadership demonstrated. The center highly recommends the related project also be submitted in one of the project categories below.
Project Excellence Awards:
Best Application Serving an Agency’s Business Needs will be awarded to individuals and teams of an agency or department that have designed, developed and deployed new applications or improved existing applications that assist the department/agency in handling its day-to-day operations.
Best Application Serving the Public will be awarded to individuals and teams that have designed, developed and deployed applications or improved existing applications that deliver services more effectively to the public or other external stakeholders. This application should effectively increase the transparency or accessibly of services.
Best IT Collaboration Among Organizations recognizes special efforts to facilitate interorganizational technology projects, governance initiatives, or data-share or data integration initiatives that led to greater cooperation among organizations, government agencies or business units or demonstrated cross-governmental efforts that have resulted in an integrated solution to public services. This outstanding project and collaborative effort provided improved and more accessible services for California residents.
Most Innovative IT Workforce Initiative will be awarded to government and/or education best practices for IT recruiting, training, or retaining the workforce. In addition to individual agency, department or educational institution efforts, collaborative government/education initiatives may be considered for this award.
Most Innovative Use of Social Media/Citizen Engagement will be awarded based on new and emerging technologies deployed in an agency/department or on existing technology utilized in an innovative/collaborative/social networking manner, including initiatives to improve citizen engagement.
Best Mobile/Wireless Project will be awarded to individuals and teams that have designed, developed and deployed an application that utilizes wireless technology for data transport. The application can use any type of mobile device for the receipt and transmission of information. Wireless networks within a building will not be considered for this award.
Best Business Analysis*/Data Analytics Project (*new in 2018!) will be awarded to individuals and teams that have designed and deployed tools/processes that have resulted in process improvement, strategic planning, and/or organizational change/change management for more efficient and effective deployment of government resources, better public policy decisions and a better-informed public. Data analytics projects should make use of existing data, preferably from multiple data sources or feeds leading to improved outcomes. Projects encompassing one or both areas — business analysis and/or data analytics — may be submitted in this category.
For more information, contact Janet Grenslitt, Director of Surveys and Awards, at the Center for Digital Government.
