Individual Excellence Awards - Criteria information

We are looking to recognise the individuals among the UK IT community that have demonstrated excellence in their profession during the past 12 months. The awards seek to reward individuals at all levels of an organisation who have contributed to the development and deployment of innovative IT systems that improve business operations or enhance public services. Entries can be submitted by IT vendors nominating their customers or employees, from companies/public bodies, or individuals wishing to recognise either their own or their colleagues' efforts.

The awards in this section will be judged against four key criteria:

• Professionalism: consistently meeting or exceeding challenging objectives to ensure the successful use of IT and demonstrating a quality approach through personal values and working practices.
• Innovation: used innovative approaches, working practices or technologies to enhance their organisation.
• Role model: provided an example to peers or colleagues of the importance of the role of IT in the organisation and the standards expected of IT professionals.
• Measurable success: has delivered quantifiable benefits to their organisation through involvement with IT initiatives in the past year and can demonstrate personal development to enhance their ability to succeed in future.

It should be noted that SFIA is used as a reference for skills assessment.

Entrants should provide:

A maximum 500-word explanation for how they meet each of the four criteria, plus a maximum 250-word summary of why they believe they should win this award. Each entry, therefore, requires:

• A brief description of yourself and your entry (80 words) which can be used for PR purposes.
• Four sections detailing achievements against each of the four criteria above (up to 500 words each)
• A summary of success statement (up to 250 words).

All sections must be completed.

Categories

• CIO of the Year

Awarded to a CIO, IT director or other board-level IT executive. The winner will be an individual that has consistently demonstrated excellence in leadership, innovation and quality in the use and promotion of IT in their organisation to deliver business growth or improvements in public services.

• Young IT Professional of the Year

Awarded to an IT professional under the age of 30 on 11 November 2011, in any discipline, who has demonstrated outstanding commitment and achievement in their work, and through their quality and professionalism stands out in their organisation as a high performer in IT.

• IT Manager of the Year

Awarded to an individual responsible for any aspect of IT delivery but especially roles in areas such as Business Continuity, Security & Governance or management of a project office. They will have delivered measurable benefit to their organisation, meeting key objectives for budget, timescales and quality. This award is mainly for people working at SFIA level 5 or above.

• Systems Professional of the Year

Awarded to an individual involved in developing software and/or hardware systems to meet the business, functional or technical needs of their organisations or clients, demonstrating outstanding achievement and innovation, meeting key objectives for quality, timescales and fulfilling user requirements in their work. This category encourages newer IT application areas such as games development, web based services (for example, SaaS), mobile and social networking.

• Service & Support Professional of the Year

Awarded to an individual providing IT service, support or training to users of IT systems, who has demonstrated outstanding achievement and commitment, meeting key objectives for quality, customer satisfaction and delivery of agreed service levels. This category covers ‘back office' areas such as training, help desk, information content development or project support and is for people working at SFIA levels 2-4 to ensure that the full range of IT skills are recognised in the UK.

• Business Analyst of the Year

Awarded to an individual responsible for the capture, analysis and definition of user, business and process requirements for the delivery of IT systems, and for liaising and consulting with business executives on the delivery of IT to meet organisational needs, meeting key objectives for business knowledge, initiative and effective communication. This category includes business case development and benefits management as well as mainstream analysis work.