Open Source in Government Awards

Our award winners for 2010 have been announced! 

More on the 2010 Awards

We are pleased to host our second annual GOSCON Open Source in Government Awards. The Awards recognize government employees who have made significant accomplishments in the application of Open Source Technology in support of their agency mission.

The Awards will be presented on Thursday, October 28, 2010 during GOSCON 2010's last luncheon. An award plaque will be presented to the key individual or team nominated for the award. Award recipients and their managers will be invited to attend GOSCON 2010. They will also be further recognized at the event and in the press for their Open Source accomplishments.

Nominations opened on September 17, 2010 and closed on October 1, 2010. Award winners will be notified by October 20, 2010.

Award Categories for 2010

Category 1. Most Resourceful Use of Open Source Software

From replacing legacy police bulletin boards to testing the social media waters with citizen-facing mobile applications, government IT staff are finding clever ways to take advantage of existing open source tools and applications to help their organizations deliver service. Who’s innovating with open source and doing more with less?

Category 2. Outstanding Large Scale Deployment  of Open Source Software

Increasingly government agencies - states, counties and municipalities - are deploying large scale applications and netting great benefits.  Data Centers, Share Services, Data and Telecommunications networks, intranet and business applications are going open source.  Where are the best examples?

Category 3. Best Intergovernmental Collaboration

"Using Open Source Software or the Collaborative Model to Solve Shared Program Challenges"

It’s been said that the real value to government isn’t in the software, but in the process or model that gets you there.  We’re looking for outstanding stories of intergovernmental collaboration.  These may span organizations, jurisdictions, and stakeholder groups and produce new value through shared software, business practices and processes, training or documentation that may have been unattainable or less effective through individual efforts.

Award Selection

A distinguished team of government and industry leaders will make the selection. More than one winner may be selected in each category or additional categories may be created to recognize outstanding accomplishments in Open Source Technology or Management. Winners will be notified and they and their manager will be invited to attend as honored guests of GOSCON.

Rules and Other Details

The GOSCON 2010 Open Source in Government Awards are intended for award to public service employees in state and local government, either an individual or team.  GOSCON will provide a complementary pass for the conference (includes all conference meals) to the award winners and one of their managers, but any related travel expenses will not be covered.

Awards will be presented at the Thursday GOSCON 2010 conference luncheon along with the honorees from the Open Source for America Awards.  Winners need not be present to win, but we’ll be very pleased to honor them at the event. Awards will be mailed to those awardees who are not able to attend the ceremony.

Non-governmental personnel, members of the GOSCON steering committee, or - as wonderful as they all are - employees of Oregon State University are not eligible to receive the awards.