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TO: Agency IT Leadership, Technical Contacts
FROM: Ruth Day, CIO
DATE: March 25, 2021
SUBJECT: Best of Kentucky IT Awards - Call for Submissions
For over a decade, state and local government agencies in the Commonwealth have had the opportunity to gain recognition for their innovative IT initiatives through participation in the Best of Kentucky Information Technology (IT) Awards. The Best of Kentucky IT Awards will be held in conjunction with the Kentucky Virtual Digital Government Summit on May 13,2021. This annual celebration provides much deserved recognition for the efforts of agencies and their employees as they continue their efforts to develop better, more cost-effective, and secure solutions to serve the citizens of the Commonwealth.
Nominations for the 2021 Best of Kentucky IT Awards are being accepted through Friday, April 16, 2021 through this online form. You are welcome to submit entries for more than one category, and will have the opportunity to complete the online form for multiple nominations. You are also welcome to nominate yourself or your project, as well as nominate others and their work. Please remember, your project must be in production prior to March 1, 2021 to be considered for an award.
CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS
Visionary Award - The Visionary Award is given to a government manager or official who has demonstrated vision, leadership and support of technology initiatives. The nominee should have a clear record of driving the use of technology, a demonstrated ability to identify future needs and a passion for serving the public. This category welcomes nominees regardless of whether they work inside or outside of an information technology department/division.
Best Application Serving the Public – The Best Application Serving the Public Award is given to individuals and teams that have designed, developed and deployed applications or improved existing systems that directly deliver services more efficiently and effectively to the public. For this award, the public may be defined as citizens, contractors or vendors.
Most Innovative Use of Technology – The Most Innovative Use of Technology Award is given to individuals and/or organizations that have demonstrated a creative, unique and resourceful use of technology in Government. This category is open to any government agency at the state and local levels, no matter how large or small.
Best IT Collaboration Among Organizations – The Best IT Collaboration Among Organizations Award is given to individuals and/or organizations that have demonstrated special efforts to facilitate inter-organizational technology projects, governance initiatives, data share initiatives and/or integration initiatives that lead to or facilitate greater cooperation between organizations, government agencies or business units. An outstanding application and/or collaborative effort between agencies or jurisdictions are the basic qualifiers for this award.
Best IT Security Innovation – The Best IT Security Innovation Award recognizes the security-related contributions of state and local government, education and healthcare organizations and leaders. Winners are evaluated on creativity and leadership, the utilization of technology to achieve results, and the impact of those efforts on state and local government, education and healthcare organizations.
When submitting nominations, please write clear, concise statements, and spell the first use of all acronyms. Assume that the readers are not familiar with your organization's roles, responsibilities or terminology.
In providing the above information, please try to consider the answers to the following questions and include them in your narrative, as applicable.
- What business problem were you trying to solve by implementing this project/application?
- What are the features, functionality and benefits of the project/application?
- Did your project/application extend or replace an existing system? If yes, provide a description of what was accomplished.
- How has the business process been improved as a result of the project/application? Provide data that demonstrates this improvement?
- What has been the economic benefit of the project/application (cost savings, cost avoidance, etc.)?
- Who benefits from the project/application?
- What is the current usage of the project/application and what is the population that is eligible to use it?
- How has the project/application been marketed to end-users?
- If you wish to show testimonials or statements of support for your project, please include this information into your online award application.
More information about the Kentucky Virtual Digital Government Summit is available at https://events.govtech.com/Kentucky-Virtual-Digital-Government-Summit.html.
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