Eight judges, one independent Chair

The judging panel

Every judge is named and published before nominations close, so you know who will read your entry before you decide whether to write one. Nobody on this panel is paid, and nobody on it works for the publisher.

Panel announcement pending

Recruitment for the inaugural panel is under way. Seats and the Chair will be published here in full — names, current or former roles, and conflict declarations — before nominations close on Wednesday 30 December 2026. If the full panel is not seated by then, we will extend the nomination window rather than judge with a partial panel, and will say so on this page.

The Chair is not an employee, contractor or shareholder of the publisher, and is recruited from outside the vendor community — a former city or county manager, a former association chief executive, or an academic in public administration.

The Chair holds two powers we cannot override: to withhold a category that cannot be judged cleanly, and to publish a dissent alongside the results.

Who we look for

Has held operational responsibility in local or regional government
Or researches it seriously, with published work
No current commercial interest in selling to the agencies being judged
Willing to be named, and to have declarations published

The commitment

About seven hours, once a year

Staff reduce each category from every eligible nomination to twenty entries before judges see anything. Twenty entries at roughly fifteen to twenty minutes each is the whole ask.

What	When	Time
Briefing call	Early January 2027	45 minutes
Score 20 redacted entries	18 Jan – 5 Feb 2027	~5–6 hours
Panel reconciliation call	Early February 2027	60 minutes
Ceremony attendance	Thursday 4 March 2027	Optional

What judges get

Named credit on the site, in the annual report and in every press release.
Early sight of the field — a structured read of what forty agencies actually achieved this year, before anyone else sees it.
A say in the rubric for the following cycle.
Nothing else. No fee, no honorarium, no gift. That is the point.

The Judges' Charter

Ten clauses every judge signs

Published in full, because a charter nobody can read is decoration.

I will score only against the published rubric, and will record a reason for every score.
I will not seek to identify a redacted entry, and will report it if I recognise one.
I will declare any relationship with an agency, vendor or individual connected to an entry, and will recuse myself where the Chair judges it necessary.
I will not accept anything of value from a nominee, a sponsor, or the publisher, beyond reimbursement of costs I have actually incurred.
I will not discuss entries, scores or outcomes outside the panel before publication.
I will not use my position to solicit business, employment or consultancy.
I hold no access to the publisher's commercial data, and will report any attempt to give me some.
I may raise a concern with the Chair at any time, and the Chair will record it in writing.
I will not lend my name to a category I have not personally scored.
I may resign at any time and ask that my name be removed, and GovTen will publish that I did.

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.

Submit a nomination See how it is judged