WITSA 2002Global Information Technology Excellence Awards

World Congress on IT 2002, February 27-March 1

The 2002 global awards program will identify and honor exceptional technical achievements in the application of information technology. Winners of these prestigious WITSA Awards must exhibit excellence within the scope of one of three broad categories: Public Sector Excellence, Private Sector Excellence, and Digital Opportunity. In addition, a special Chairman’s Award is presented to a nominee selected from the entire pool of candidates from all three awards categories.

Candidates for these Awards are nominated by IT experts from around the world who are part of the 41-country WITSA industry network. The WITSA Awards Program will be an integral part of the February 27 – March 1^h WCIT 2002 program, which will take place in Adelaide, Australia.

· Public Sector IT Excellence Award

Government authorities and non-profit organizations are eligible to be nominated in the Public Sector Excellence category.

Criteria for Government authorities: To be nominated, a government authority must, in its delivery of services within or outside the authority, use information technology to 1) improve a national or local government's effectiveness in meeting the needs of its citizens; 2) save time and money in government operations by eliminating inefficient practices and processes; and/or 3) improve access to or the quality of services, communication and information within government. In addition, the project implemented by the nominee must meet at least one of the following criteria: use IT to improve the common good, either at the local, national or global level (measuring the social benefit); demonstrate efficient use of current technology; highlight the benefits of latest advances; run pilot projects evaluating the potential of new innovative means of communication and information distribution.

Criteria for Non-profit organizations: To be nominated, non-profit organizations must utilize information technology to achieve the organization's goals, as well to improve the common good through programs with significant social benefits. Examples of such programs include: medical groups that facilitate remotely assisted surgery via Internet, deployment of informative databases or other technologies that increase citizen participation in communities of interest - uses that bring aid, comfort, information, support or services to target community groups.

· Private Sector IT Excellence Award

All for-profit, high-end information technology users are eligible for this award. This award honors the innovative uses of information technology that directly increase a business' ability to meet its objectives, improve its competitiveness or better serve its customer needs. A for-profit user of IT that creates an advantage in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing and/or distribution of products and services would be competitive for this award.

· Digital Opportunity Award

Individuals, academic institutions, corporations, NGOs or government authorities that have made a remarkable and successful effort at providing digital opportunities to those in need are eligible for this award. Nominees must help facilitate the deployment of information technology and use of the internet among inner city populations segments, or in towns, rural areas or cities in developing and least-developed countries in order to be considered for this award. WITSA member associations have autonomy in nominating and selecting the most qualified candidates in their respective country or region. In order to nominate a candidate, the WITSA member association must demonstrate the effectiveness of the program; approximate the number of people benefiting from the program; describe the degree of intensiveness of the program; and evaluate the level of innovation used in achieving the program’s goals.