Australia’s Excellence in eGovernment Awards recognise the most outstanding initiatives in eGovernment across five ICT disciplines. Nominations are accepted for initiatives from all spheres of government across Australia, Federal, State & Territory and Local Government.
The 2012 category award winner for overall excellence in eGovernment was the Bureau of Meteorology for their Next Generation Forecast and Warning System Project. The bureau is transitioning from traditional text-based based forecasts limited to a number of locations to a fully digital geospatial environment in which users can access more accurate, more detailed and, most importantly, geospatially aware forecasts and warnings. NexGenFWS is now successfully operating in four states and has introduced a greatly expanded service that provides citizens in rural and regional areas with a level of information formerly only available about metropolitan cities. The technology underpinning NexGenFWS has revolutionised the preparation of forecasts to allow the Bureau to establish a digital geospatial database of forecast information which covers the continent, providing a level of detail and accuracy never before achieved in Australia.
The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) administers a suite of Awards to recognise and promote excellence, innovation and professionalism in the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The Government ICT Awards Program was introduced in 2006 by the Australian Government to recognise the most outstanding initiatives in eGovernment and to promote excellence in the use of ICT across all spheres of government across Australia (Federal, State & Territory, and Local). Since their establishment the Awards program has been expanded to recognise outstanding professionalism by teams or individuals working in ICT in the Australian Government arena and to recognise outstanding practice in the use and impact of Government 2.0 tools.