How it works
Nothing here is discretionary. The rubric, the dates, the panel and the arithmetic are all published before nominations open, and the numbers behind the list are published after it.
Six criteria, weighted, published in advance
Half the available score sits in outcome and evidence. That is deliberate: it is the half most award programmes leave to impression.
Ten honorees. Three of them Gold.
GovTen Gold Award
The three highest-scoring entries in each category. Twelve a year.
Receives the crystal trophy on a granite base, the gold seal, a speaking slot in the ceremony and a place in the annual report. Entitled to use the Gold badge.
GovTen Award
The remaining seven in each category. Twenty-eight a year.
Receives an engraved plaque with the navy-and-gold seal, is named on screen at the ceremony, and appears on the permanent honoree roll. Entitled to use the standard badge.
Both are shipped at our cost, worldwide, duties paid. Neither can be bought, and there is no charge to accept either.
The numbers behind the list, published every cycle
A list of ten means nothing unless you know what it was chosen from. So we publish the funnel — in cycles that go well and cycles that do not.
| What we publish | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Nominations received, by category | Shows whether a category was competitive or thin |
| Screened out, with reasons grouped | Ineligible, unevidenced, duplicate, withdrawn |
| Entries reaching blind scoring | The real denominator for “top ten” |
| Distribution by population band and country | Lets you judge whether the list is representative |
| Self- versus third-party nominations | Shows whether one route dominates |
| Categories withheld, if any | An empty category is information, not a failure to hide |
This is the first cycle. If a category attracts too few credible entries to make a defensible list of ten, we will publish fewer than ten in that category and say so plainly, rather than filling the list. That decision rests with the Chair.
What GovTen does not do
No public vote
Popularity measures reach, not quality. A small county doing outstanding work would lose to a metropolitan agency with a communications team, every time.
No paid placement
No entry fee, no shortlist fee, no gala table, no sponsored category, no “featured honoree”. Sponsors fund production and shipping and touch nothing else.
No sales follow-up
Being nominated or honored does not put you on a call list. This is a written policy with a technical control behind it, not an assurance.
Someone in your organisation has done work worth ten minutes of your time.
Nominations for the inaugural cycle close Wednesday 30 December 2026. There is no fee, and self-nomination is welcome — most good work is nominated by the people who did it.