Finalists announced in the e-Government National Awards 2009

The finalists have been announced in this year’s e-Government National Awards, with the winners being announced by UK Government CIO John Suffolk on 20th January 2010 at a Ministerial dinner at the City of London's Guildhall.

A judging panel including experts from both the public and private sectors selected 72 finalists from hundreds of nominations. The winners will be announced at an award ceremony and Ministerial dinner on 20 January 2010, chaired by UK Government CIO John Suffolk. This event will be held at the magnificent City of London's Guildhall.

The standard of nominations in this year’s competition has been extremely high, providing an insight into the great work being done across the public sector, from central government and NHS to voluntary organisations and universities. Key themes among this year's finalists are services which help build a fairer society and are based on sustainable or carbon-neutral 'Green IT'; all key issues on the Awards’ parent news site PublicTechnology.net.

Finalists will be judged on their e-Government and technology-driven service delivery and how far their innovation has positively transformed the lives of citizens, local communities, businesses and stakeholders.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, joining last year’s event via video link, said; "When times are tough, as they are now, it is more important than ever for government to work as smoothly and efficiently as possible, so it's good to see technology providing real efficiency gains at the same time as increasing the effectiveness of services."

Now in their sixth year, the annual e-Government National Awards are supported by the Cabinet Office; the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) and the Society of IT Management (SOCITM). Platinum sponsor of the Awards is KPMG, and also a sponsor is H2O Networks.

Places at the awards ceremony are limited, and sold out very quickly last year. Please click here to enquire about booking your place.

John Suffolk, the Government's Chief Information Officer, says: "Every year these Awards continue to get better and better and tougher to select the winners out of many hundreds of top quality entries. The sheer innovation, passion for citizen service and pride with which the teams have executed their projects makes me hugely proud, and humble, to be in IT within the Public Sector."

Donald Graham, Chief Executive Hertsmere Borough Council and Phil Coppard OBE, Chief Executive of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council said on behalf of SOLACE: "This year's entrants continue to demonstrate the strong vein of improvement and innovation present in the public sector. We were particularly pleased by the strong showing from local government. While a competition by definition necessarily produces winners and losers the judges had some difficult decisions to make. We hope all entrants will be encouraged by their participation in the national awards scheme for e–government to see this as a learning and sharing experience that ultimately benefits the many citizens reliant upon our services. These innovations and partnerships are strong evidence of mature organizations that can and do make a fundamental difference to the quality of people's lives through the intelligent use of technology."

Steve Palmer, President of Socitm & CIO at the London Borough of Hillingdon says: "Judging the e-Government National Awards this year has been exciting and thought provoking. The quality of submissions overall has been high with some exceptional, stand out, examples of technology being used positively to change the lives and opportunities of the people we exist to serve."

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