Government Business

The Awards, presented by world renowned BBC newscaster Peter Sissons and held at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, were even more hotly contested this year, with the London Borough of Hillingdon winning the main 'Local Authority of the Year' Award due to its successes in the Telecoms category (Contact Centre of the Year, Contact Centre Training Award) and in the Public Relations section (Local Authority PR Team of the Year).
    
In all, 22 awards went to local and central government departments for their communications expertise. In the IT category, Local Authority Website of the Year went to Slough Council for slough.gov.uk , with the IT Project Innovation award going to Hull City Council's STREAM Project, which gives vulnerable older people access to personalised and relevant public services through their television.
    
Brighton & Hove Council scooped the Telecoms Innovation award for its Talking Bus Stops project, which provides blind and visually impaired people with audible alerts that tell them when the next bus is due.
    
Nigel Dutton, Head of Tactical Marketing at O2, said: “This extremely well organised event is vital in recognising the hard work that goes into government communications, and the technology successes that assist in the delivery of key local and central government campaigns”.

PUBLIC RELATIONS: LOCAL AUTHORITY PR TEAM OF THE YEAR
Winner: London Borough of Hillingdon
The Hillingdon Improvement Programme has played a crucial role in helping the council to make much needed changes, and the council's reputation has grown as a result of more positive media coverage. The PR Team has driven this message of change through to its population clearly and cost effectively, with dramatic results.

INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS AWARD
Winner: Westminster Council - CPA awareness campaign
Westminster Council used the task of preparing for inspection as an opportunity to increase staff understanding of the councils objectives in an engaging way. A new website was created to engage staff. Launched by email and the intranet, this included a CPA comic-strip story, trivia quiz and acronym generator.

GOVERNMENT TO CITIZEN COMMUNICATION
Winner: Coventry City Council - Changing the face of the city campaign
The way people have bought into the vision for a new city centre is playing a key role in changing the perceptions of the city. A wider pride campaign will be based on the regeneration of the city centre. This campaign has ensured there is a real buzz in Coventry, and that people are keen for work to start.

MIXED MEDIA CAMPAIGN
Winner: Bradford MDC - Tomorrows Climate Today's Challenge campaign
Bradford's Climate Change Awareness campaign was integrated into the Council's existing media work, linked to issues such as recycling and sustainable travel. To increase impact it was decided to avoid stereotypical climate change imagery such as wind turbines, polar bears etc. and relate instead to a concept that residents could easily relate to when thinking about climate change – the weather.

PRINT: COUNCIL PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR
sponsored by PMA Media Training
Winner: Stoke-on-Trent City Council - Our City
Our City is published and led by Stoke-on-Trent City Council along with Staffordshire Police, Stoke-on-Trent Primary Care Trust and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service. The 16- page magazine is produced in five editions corresponding to Stoke-on-Trent’s neighbourhood management areas. Each has five change pages, including the cover and four pages of local news, with contacts for councillors, policing teams and health centres.

COUNCIL PUBLICATION - JOURNALISM
sponsored by Moonraker Media
Winner: East Riding of Yorkshire Council - East Riding News
The newspaper is self-funded thanks to the efforts of an in-house advertising sales team. Members of the communication team’s press office write the entire editorial, using a journalistic style which gives the paper credibility and helps dampen down accusations of spin. Potential stories are assessed on newsworthiness as well as their link to a set of themes – value for money; quality of life; living safely; caring; and listening.

COUNCIL PUBLICATION - DESIGN
sponsored by Océ
Winner: Brent Council - The Brent Magazine
The magazine is designed to give its readers clear, easy to understand information in regular sections and lively features with familiar, easy to follow signposting, allowing straightforward navigation around the publication.

PRINT INNOVATION AWARD
sponsored by OKI Printing Solutions
Winner: Salford City Council - Trick or Treat Posters
The strategy was to educate and advise on the right way to approach these seasonal activities, rather than taking a killjoy approach. Print items included a window card either wishing people a 'Happy Halloween' or ʻSorry I’m busy, no trick or treaters', and a cut-out mask for children with some rules about behaving over Halloween.
    
IT & E-GOVERNMENT: LOCAL AUTHORITY WEBSITE OF THE YEAR
sponsored by Auros
Winner: Slough Borough Council - www.slough.gov.uk
Slough BC, last years winner of the Website Accessibility category, continues to raise the standard of its online presence in a number of ways. A clear and consistent style helps visitors find their way around, and the local government navigational list is always followed. Plain English is used whenever possible without losing the context and meaning of the message.
    
CENTRAL GOVERNMENT WEBSITE OF THE YEAR
sponsored by CJV Digital
Winner: DfT/Defra - actonco2.direct.gov.uk & www.dft.gov.uk/actonco2
The ACT ON CO2 cross-government brand was developed jointly by Defra and the Department for Transport, aimed at giving the public useful information on how to reduce their individual carbon footprint. The calculator, developed by Defra and the Energy Saving Trust and launched last Summer, lets people calculate their carbon footprint from home energy, appliances and transport. The DfT strand at www.dft.gov.uk/actonc02 features a CO2 car ranking system developed with WhatCar?
    
IT PARTNERSHIP AWARD
sponsored by OITUK
Winner: Mid Sussex District Council - Shared Customer Services System
Mid Sussex has led an innovative shared services project that provides a mobile working solution to three tiers of local authority for enforcement of the Clean Neighbourhood and Environment Act. A core group of local authority workers are equipped with smart phones. The information captured includes photographs, GPS data and supporting evidence which can be directly sent to the appropriate customer service team.

IT PROJECT INNOVATION AWARD
sponsored by PTC Software
Winner: Hull City Council - STREAM Independent Living Project
STREAM Independent Living uses IP Television to provide residents with information about local services available to them, a what’s on calendar of local events, communication tools and the ability to book services from the comfort of their homes. As part of the scheme, each resident receives a free broadband-enabled set top box that gives them access to the free to air digital channels and local video-rich public services.

WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY AWARD
sponsored by RNIB
Winner: Salford City Council - www.salford.gov.uk
Any new or edited content is thoroughly audited for accessibility and usability using both manual and automated testing, and, wherever possible, third party applications, such as secure online payments, are integrated into the standard accessible template.
    
TELECOMS CATEGORY: CONTACT CENTRE AWARD
sponsored by Sytel
Winner: London Borough of Hillingdon
In the 2007/2008 period, Hillingdon Contact Centre handled 898,366 contacts, which marks an 11 per cent increase over the same period last year, with no additional staff recruitment. Despite this, customer satisfaction ratings have increased. Hillingdon has demonstrated a clear understanding of the importance of frontline staff at the centre of the customer-focused strategy.

CONTACT CENTRE TECHNOLOGY AWARD
sponsored by Central Telecom
Winner: Nottinghamshire County Council
A new Customer Service Centre in Hucknall, where residents can use a single number to contact the council regarding over 360 services, uses a Rostrvm solutions application suite, deployed in conjunction with Ericsson PBX technology to support call routing to the centre advisors, who then use the desktop application to answer and handle the call.

CONTACT CENTRE TRAINING AWARD
sponsored by Call Centre Consultants
Winner: London Borough of Hillingdon
The quality of training and staff support has not only helped to reduce absence and non productive time, but also allowed the authority to expand the range of service areas within the contact centre, and provide a quick, slick service. Customer surveys and ʻMystery Shopper' exercises also provide vital information which is used to further improve service levels.

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY AWARD
sponsored by Text Messaging Service
Winner: Lambeth Council - Nemesis
Project Delivery
The Nemesis project forms part of Lambeth’s community safety campaign, which had previously raised awareness about the impact of violent crime in the borough using leafleting and billboard posters. The second stage involved sending a 60 second educational/anti gun film by Bluetooth, targeting specific estates with prominent posters that detailed the content on offer, identified the bluetooth casting zones and gave the user the opportunity to opt out.

TELECOMS INNOVATION AWARD
sponsored by Voicesage
Winner: Brighton & Hove Council - Talking Bus Stops
In August 2007 Brighton & Hove became the first area in the country to introduce talking bus stops for blind and visually impaired people. The RNIB React system links into the city’s Bus Real Time Information meaning they no longer need to rely on fellow passengers for help. Audible announcements are triggered by an electronic key fob as users approach a bus stop.

MAIN AWARDS CATEGORY: LOCAL AUTHORITY OF THE YEAR
sponsored by O2
Winner: London Borough of Hillingdon
Local Authority PR Team (Winner); Contact Centre of the Year (Winner)
Contact Centre Training Award (Winner); Government to Citizen Communication Award (Runner up)

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN
sponsored by European Electronique
Winner: National Patient Safety Agency - Clean Your Hands Year 3
The National Patient Safety Agency's cleanyourhands campaign aims to improve the hand hygiene of healthcare workers and prevent healthcare associated infection. Since the campaign launch in September 2004, Independent evaluation has already demonstrated its effectiveness in changing behaviour. Materials and experiences have been shared with other healthcare organisations and systems around the world.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR
sponsored by Creative Lynx
Winner: Nicky Mee, Rushcliffe Borough Council
In the 2007 Best Value Ispos MORI survey, Rushcliffe was recognised as the best district council for customer satisfaction in the country, with 73 per cent customer satisfaction – up 10 per cent in four years. In 2008, Nicky has written all the material which has seen Rushcliffe move from 'good' to ʻexcellent' in the council's latest CPA.

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR
Winner: Lisa Appleyard, HM Prison Service
Lisa Appleyard, Head of HR Strategy Planning and Communications at HM Prison Service, has led a small communications team to deliver two extensive projects critical to embedding a new Prison Service HR strategy. This has engineered new ways of working and cultural change among the Prison Service’s 50,000 employees.