This article is published in collaboration with AWS.

Nominations are now open for the Future of Government Awards, a new global awards program to recognize the people and projects leading the digital transformation of governments around the world. The awards are co-sponsored by the AWS Institute from Amazon Web Services (AWS), a thought leadership and executive education program to accelerate digital transformation in the public sector; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change; and Apolitical, a global network and learning platform for government with a mission to build 21st century governments that work for people and the planet.

The Future of Government Awards program seeks to celebrate the hidden public sector heroes who work tirelessly to modernize their governments to improve citizen services. The awards champion innovative technology solutions that the public sector has created and shared—as well as the stories of government organizations that have successfully adapted and reused them.

Championing the power of open source solutions for government

Governments do not compete with each other, and they generally provide a similar range of public services. When a government organization develops a solution to meet a shared common need and publishes their solution as open source software, other governments can reuse their proven solution—saving agencies around the world time and resources along the way to modernization and innovation.

But many government organizations do not yet have experience reusing open source solutions and do not know what is involved or how to get started. That is why stories and case studies from those who have successfully reused and adapted a solution are so important to share. They provide inspiration, step-by-step guidance, and can offer the confidence needed to start the transformation journey.

To this end, the Future of Government Awards will recognize, celebrate, and share a diverse set of proven practices and solutions that can be reused by governments around the world. The Future of Government Awards program intends to identify solutions that will become Digital Public Goods, and that can be shared with governments around the world through the Open Government Solutions library on AWS.

Future of Government Award categories

There are three categories for this year’s Future of Government Awards. Each category will feature finalists and one overall winner:

• The Digital Innovator of the Year Award recognizes individual public servants who have successfully championed digital transformation
• The Open Source Creation of the Year Award celebrates government organizations that embody open government through the development of open source solutions
• The Open Source Adaptation of the Year Award honors government organizations that have made great strides in reusing open source solutions

A global selection committee will choose the finalists and winners for the awards. Each member of the selection committee brings deep expertise in digital innovation and transformation within government, from a wide set of diverse backgrounds.

Nomination guidelines

If you, or someone you know, is part of a project to digitally transform government to improve citizen services, or are involved in the creation or reuse of highly innovative open source solutions for government, please submit a nomination form for one of the award categories. Nominations for the awards are now open and will close on 14 October 2022.

Visit the Future of Government Awards main page to learn more about the program and nominate a digital transformation leader or open source solution.

This article was first published by AWS on 12 August 2022.

Pete Herlihy
Technical Product Manager and Open Source Lead, Amazon Web Services

Pete Herlihy is focused on stimulating the creation and reuse of open source solutions in the public sector in order to help governments rapidly improve their citizens' experience. Pete has more than a decade of experience creating, sharing, and reusing open source solutions within government.