The Financial Management Award
An award that recognises where an individual or team has delivered excellence in financial management. This might include:

• Provision of quality financial information and guidance that has enabled optimal decision-making and resource usage
• Financial planning and management that has been embedded across the organisation
• Delivery of new financial systems and services which are robust, flexible and fast and fully designed to meet customers’ needs
• Implementation of an activity-based budgeting process

The Public Value Award
Supported by

An award that recognises outstanding contributions to the creation of public value, which could include:

• A clear understanding of the benefits to be gained by consumers/users, citizens and taxpayers from a more efficient use of resources
• The quality of a service being maintained in the case of resource reductions or improved in greater proportion to existing or additional resources

The Public Service Award
An award that recognises excellence in public services. This could include:

• Customer needs have been placed at the heart of the design and implementation of the policy/project
• Effective partnerships have been established between civil servants and front line staff
• Services to the public have been demonstrably improved

The Diversity & Equality Award
A winner of winners from the Civil Service Diversity & Equality Awards; an award that recognises real achievement and success.

The Science, Engineering and Technology Award
An award that recognises best practice in the innovative use of science and technology as part of the policy making, operational delivery, or business planning process.

• Using science, engineering and technology effectively in policy development or delivery
• Providing the scientific tools needed for the development or delivery of effective evidence-based policy
• Significant SET developments that may not have a measurable impact for a number of years
• Developing innovative new tools for effective delivery of government services
• Encouraging the use of innovative scientific, engineering and technological advances in government to improve efficiency and value for money
• Communicating the social, environmental and economic implications of scientific and technical approaches effectively

The Innovation Award
An award that recognises where innovation has been used successfully to address an issue or challenge. This might include:

• How an innovative approach has resulted in a step up from business as usual and delivered real benefits to end users
• A project that has worked in “open innovation” mode by consulting stakeholders, including front line workers and end users
• Where learning has been captured and disseminated for application in other areas

The Collaboration Award
An award that recognises where activity has transcended institutional barriers, including:

• Establishing effective joint working arrangements that bring together colleagues from multiple teams, departments or other organisations
• Clearly identifying and communicating the benefits of a collaborative approach
• Delivering improved, coordinated and efficient services to end users

The Human Resource Award
An award for a team or individual that has delivered excellent results in the field of Human Resource Management and Development, which could include initiatives which have delivered value for money, demonstrated HR Professionalism, led to improvements in customer service and have involved sharing of good practice in their own business or other departments.

Nominations should clearly identify which category their piece of work relates to, from the five areas drawn from the Civil Service People Agenda Strategy:

• Leadership and Talent Management
• Resource Management
• Learning and Development
• Employee Engagement and Wellbeing
• Performance Management
• A winner for each category will be announced at this year’s HR Leaders Conference.

The Communication Award
An award that recognises where an individual or team has delivered strong and successful communication that:

• Is built on an insight of customer needs
• Resonates with the target audience and changes behaviours
• Makes a real and positive difference

The Leadership Award
Support by

An award open to any individual or team that has demonstrated excellence in leadership. This might include:

• Achieving great results through strong leadership within a team or organisation and/or across traditional boundaries
• Putting pride, pace, passion and professionalism into practice
• Exemplifying the core values and behaviours set out in the Civil Service Code

The Procurement Award
An award recognising good practice in public procurement, demonstrating:

• Who has benefited and by how much, clearly and simply
• Tangible evidence of collaboration in procurement, with demonstrable efficiency gains
• Evidence of sustainability in procurement practice
• Extensive participation of procurement professionals and commitment to training

The Project and Programme Management Award
An award recognising good practice in project and programme management, open to any individual or team that can demonstrate:

• Appropriate application of recognised PPM skills and methods
• Evidence of sound sponsorship of the project/programme and clear appreciation of the customer supplier environment
• Clarity about pre-agreed benefits and evidence of their delivery

The Sustainability Award
An award to recognise achievement in helping to meet government’s sustainability objectives, be it in policy, delivery or government operations.

• Demonstrable contribution to a Government social, economic and/or environmental sustainability objective or target
• Active engagement of staff and organisational leadership
• Evidence of a value for money approach being taken, assessing the costs and benefits of the approach

The Analysis and Use of Evidence Awards
Supported by

An award that recognises excellence in the way knowledge is managed, this could include:

• Improving results by placing robust evidence and analysis at the heart of the decision-making process
• Capturing knowledge and data from a wide variety of disciplines and sources, including from inside and outside government where appropriate, and using this information to influence policy development and deliver better results for end users
• Ensuring that learning is captured and can be disseminated to others to help spread good practice elsewhere
• Using management of information to improve services to the customer

The More for Less Award
An award that recognises where a team or individual has met the challenge of delivering more for less, responding to or planning for a decline in income by carrying out reforms and employing ‘lean’ business processes to maintain or improve service quality while cutting costs. The winner is likely to have:

• Analysed and understood the opportunities for improvement
• Achieved radical business process improvement through lean measures
• Experienced or prepared an organisation or team for a decline in income
• Implemented a continuous learning and improvement culture

The Cabinet Secretary Award
Supported by

At the ceremony itself, Sir Gus O’Donnell will announce a “winner of winners” for 2010, deciding from all of the winners which one has:

• Most clearly demonstrated pride, passion, pace and professionalism
• Strongly embodied the values and behaviours of the Civil Service Code