The particular theme of this year's awards is the promotion of good practice in eGovernment in EU Member States. The call for submissions will be open from 1 April to 1 June 2007 and, in order to help interested parties to prepare entries for submission, the European Commission is inviting all eGovernment stakeholders to an Information Day in Brussels on 11 April 2007. Registration for the Information Day is open until 30 March.
This year, there are five award categories. The first is ‘Better public services for growth and jobs’, which will go to the on-line public services best reflecting the Lisbon Agenda – that is, contributing most to the EU's economic growth and jobs creation strategy. The next category is for innovations or reorganisations in services and processes which lead to more ‘Effective and efficient administration’.
The interactive initiative with most influence on open government, policy-making and the operation and delivery of public administration will win the ‘Participation and transparency’ category, while the ‘Social impact and cohesion’ award will go to public service initiatives improving the social environment and social cohesion. Finally, initiatives that provide creative solutions to common challenges inspiring others will be eligible for the ‘Most inspiring good practice award’. This last category will be decided after a public vote, at the Good Practice Portal.
Submissions will be evaluated by independent experts and a jury, using a range of criteria including: impact; evidence of or potential for sharing good practice; understanding of multi-channel aspects; innovation and management efficiency; overall impression and communications capacity. The winners in each category will be announced at the eGovernment Ministerial Conference in Lisbon on 20 September 2007.
