2012 Australian Government ICT Awards open for nominations

It is again my pleasure to open the Excellence in eGovernment Awards, Government 2.0 Innovator Award and the ICT Professional of the Year Award for 2012.

It is now seven years since the government first introduced an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Awards program. In that time, every nomination we have received has been an acknowledgement of the excellent work that Government does.

In an ever-changing information technology landscape, community expectations are also continually changing – “raising the bar” so to speak. To meet those expectations we must continue to lead in exploiting the technology available to us.

We all know that Australians can be self‑effacing innovators, quiet achievers who often prefer to remain silent about their achievements – they just want to get on with the job at hand. Fortunately we also have a reputation for helping one another. A nomination from your agency for the Excellence in eGovernment Awards is just one way of doing that. Not surprisingly, others want to know:

• what was the problem your agency faced and how did you solve it?
• how did your agency make that process more efficient?
• what did your agency do to make service delivery more customer focussed?
• how does your agency use technology to communicate with your clients?

Take a look at last year’s winners. Their agencies were happy to share their stories and I’d like you to consider sharing yours. Don’t think “But we haven’t done anything special!”  A problem solved, a job well done, a more satisfied customer – that’s what we want to hear about.  What you’ve done might help someone else, and that would really be something to be proud of.

And don’t forget the quiet achievers. The Government 2.0 Innovator Award and the ICT Professional of the Year Award are also open for nominations. It’s a great way of acknowledging those individuals and teams who have worked so hard for their agency. Why not take the time to say a public “Thank you – great job”?

You still have plenty of time to nominate for this year’s Awards – nominations don’t close until 6:00 pm (AEDT) on Thursday 1 March 2012.