For this year’s theme, a government agency should be responsible for submitting each application and making a compelling case that their initiative is effectively engaging citizens AND is being institutionalized within government. Governments are required to consult with civil society when selecting initiatives for consideration. Governments are also strongly encouraged to submit a joint application with one or more civil society partners. To begin the application process, each country’s team will be provided a unique access code so that they may register on this website. Following registration, those teams can communicate with each other, participate in group discussion forums, and seek answers to questions regarding the application process from administrative staff.
In 2014, OGP is asking participating countries to nominate initiatives that expand and sustain “citizen engagement” to improve government policies and services. OGP defines citizen engagement as:
... the mechanism(s) by which citizens participate in and have influence on the design and implementation of public policy and services, with the ultimate goal of making government more open, responsive, and accountable to their needs.
The theme reflects a principle that is at the core of the OGP model. We are seeking applications from countries and their partners, to celebrate initiatives that have demonstrated marked improvements in the design or implementation of public policies and services. The application requires governments to strongly make the case for how they engaged with citizens in bringing about this improvement – and the scoring process is designed to reward those initiatives that are able to clearly describe any success in practice. Applications can feature commitments from a country’s Action Plan or other related open government initiatives.
Each registered team must describe how it chose an initiative to be considered for the theme of citizen engagement. This will be an internal exercise where the government team is strongly encouraged to consult with civil society partners in nominating the best initiative to put forward for the competition.
Each team must submit a three-part application, including The TEAM, The INITIATIVE and The PITCH. These sections ask the team to identify the staff responsible for the initiative, as well as any partners, describe the merits of the initiative, and provide evidence of initial results.
Each complete application will be scored using a common rubric. All scores will be normalized to ensure that – no matter which judges are assigned – every applicant will be treated fairly. Judges’ scores and comments will be compiled so that teams can receive valuable feedback. To ensure a transparent process, the rubric is available for you to review even before you have registered.
Our esteemed panel of judges have completed scoring all the applications we received for the inaugural year of the Open Government Awards. Due to the diversity and merit of each initiative, OGP has decided to honor the top 10 ranking initiatives at a High-Level Event on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York in September. The teams will be honored at an Awards ceremony, and will also have the opportunity to brand annual reports and other materials with recognition by OGP (specific to the program), throughout the year.
To get the details of the final results, please use the following options.