European Commission's call for good practice cases will close on 10 June 2009. Whether local, regional, national or cross-border, submitted cases and experiences will show how ICT can improve service delivery to citizens and businesses across Europe. The finalists and winners of the European eGovernment Awards will be selected by a panel of eminent independent experts.

Awards information days

The 4th European eGovernment Awards 2009 Information Day, held on 21 April in Brussels (BE), was hosted by the European Commission's Directorate-General Information Society and Media. Over 60 participants representing 17 countries and a variety of public sector (local, regional, national and pan-European) and stakeholder organisations learnt about this year's awards, the submission and selection process, and the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference.

Following the European information day, several local information days have been organised with the support of local stakeholders. On 6 May, the awards were presented in Stockholm to potential Swedish applicants in cooperation with VINNOVA, the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems. The Turkish information day, organised by the e-Transformation Turkey Project, part of the Information Society Department, took place on 12 May with participation of 60 people from 40 different agencies. On 15 May, in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Aadministration and Innovation, was organised the Italian information day. Finally, on 20 May, the Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia organised a national information day with 30 participants.

To encourage participation, the awards call has been presented successfully across Europe by the European eGovernment Awards Consortium in various conferences and events,  such as PEP-NET meeting (Hungary), monthly forum for public administrations hosted by the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency (Denmark), ITAPA international congress on IT for public administration (Slovakia), Elektronische Verfahren conference (Austria), Eastern European eGov Days 2009 (Czech Rep.), eCLAU - Youth in Action conference (Spain) and Offentliga Rummet conference including the ceremony for the Swedish Guldlänken awards (Sweden).

How to apply?

Submissions for the European eGovernment Awards 2009 must be received no later than 10 June 2009 at 16:00 CET. Only online submissions via www.epractice.eu/awards are eligible. All those interested to submit an application are advised to read beforehand the Guidance Notes for Submission. Early submission is recommended.

The awards categories are:

• Category 1 - eGovernment supporting the Single Market 
• Category 2a - eGovernment empowering citizens
• Category 2b - eGovernment empowering businesses
• Category 3 - eGovernment enabling administrative efficiency and effectiveness

In addition, a separate public prize will be awarded based on the online votes cast by members of ePractice.eu (membership open to all).

All public administrations (national, regional, local, etc.) from EU Member States, EFTA and candidate countries that deliver eGovernment services and solutions can apply. Applications must be for cases currently in operation and supported by a public sector actor.

 

Further information: 

• Awards webpage on the ePractice.eu portal 
• Contact - Awards Helpdesk 
• Guidance Notes for submission
• 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference, 19-20 November 2009  
• VINNOVA 
• Italian Ministry of Public Administration and Innovation
• Turkish Information Society Department
• e-Croatia