Guidance

Nominations open for Geography in Government (GiG) Awards 2022

Updated 4 March 2022

Award Information

To celebrate the geographical work across the civil, crown and public sector, the profession hosts the annual Geography in Government (GiG) Awards. These awards reflect the importance of geography and spatial thinking in the design and delivery of public policy and celebrates the successes of our members, who come from a diverse range of organisations.

Nomination Form: Please fill out this year’s nomination form by 11.55pm on 18th March 2022

Judging: The nominations will be judged by leaders in the profession, with the overall winners judged by senior representatives of the profession from beyond the public sector.

Criteria for nominations and judging: The awards are open to all civil, crown and public servants who are geographers within the Government Geography Profession at the time of nomination. If you are not already a member of then you can join here. We are looking for examples of outstanding individuals or teams who have innovated, impressed and made a real difference in their area and the communities we serve over the past 12 months. At least one of the nominated team must be a member of the GGP. Nominations will be considered against award-specific criteria as well as looking for evidence of meeting some or all of these elements where relevant:

• Promotion or demonstration of the core values and behaviours set out in the Civil Service Code or appropriate Code for your organisation: has the nominee acted (where relevant) with integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality?
• Innovative: has the nominee used innovative approaches and made the best use of the technology available, resulting in a step up from business as usual and real benefits to end users?
• Impact: has the nominee made an impact beyond their immediate team/business area/department?
• Measurable benefits: does the nomination provide evidence that the project or programme is having a tangible effect?
• Working in partnership: has the nominee introduced effective joint-working arrangements that bring together colleagues from multiple teams, departments or other internal or external organisations?
• Sustainability: will the initiative/practice described leave a lasting legacy and can it be replicated across the public sector?
• Inclusion: has the nominee been inclusive, engaging the individual strengths, talents and experiences of teams and considered all groups of customers, service users, audiences or stakeholders in developing solutions?
• For all nominations the judges will be looking for impact and how geography made a difference.
• Please note that each nomination can only be entered in one category. The GGP team will contact you if we feel that the nomination would fit better in another category.

Privacy Statement: The data collected in this form will be used by our judging panel to determine the winning entries for this year’s Government Geography Profession Awards and to contact nominees. The nomination form collects the following data:

• Names
• Professions
• Organisation
• Contact details (phone numbers and emails)
• Nomination description

Details of shortlisted and winning entries will be published, including the nomination description and the organisation and team submitting the nomination. We will not publish any further details without consent. The data will be stored securely in full and will only be accessible to our judging panel. After two years we will remove contact details for the nominations. With the exception of the published shortlisted and winning entries, no nominations will be made public or passed to a third party without further consent. This information will be processed under the lawful basis of legitimate interest, as all the information collected is necessary to contact nominees and judge nominations. For further information, or to request to delete or amend your nomination form, please contact Patrick.Rickles@ogauthority.co.uk

Awards Categories

Excellence in local and regional public sector: This category is exclusively open to those working in local and regional public sector organisations, e.g. local authorities, health authorities, emergency services etc (including blue light services and other local services employing public servants) and can span from cartography to innovation, from technology to operational delivery. We wish to highlight the breadth and depth of geographical work undertaken across the local government sector in the delivery of local services, for example by:

• Delivery of customer services through geospatial solutions,
• Analysis and insight leading to improved delivery of services
• Interdisciplinary working across teams, organisations and areas.

Operational delivery: Celebrating outstanding contributions to the successful delivery of public sector objectives whether through existing activities, change projects or emerging operational demands. This award recognises projects, teams or individuals whose efforts support organisational objectives, outcomes for society and lasting impact. Entrants may have shown examples of one or more of the following:

• Transforming organisations or services – using geographic insights to improve the way the public sector operates or delivers services to the citizen and/or to deliver significant savings and infrastructure improvements.
• Applying geographic knowledge and learning to support organisational objectives and service and wherever in the world these apply.
• Visible project leadership - building high performing, diverse teams; increasing project capability; and leading activity to drive innovation and share knowledge across the wider professional community to effectively learn lessons from other projects.
• Capturing knowledge, research and geospatial data from a variety of disciplines and sources, collaborating with partners inside and outside government where appropriate, and using this information to influence the operational delivery of government policy to deliver better outcomes.

Advancing geospatial data science: Recognising excellence by a team or individual in advancing geographic data structures, geographic science concepts and computational techniques to capture, represent, process, and analyse geographic information. This could include examples of:

• Applying systems thinking, problem solving and analysis to improve results by placing robust evidence, research and geospatial data at the heart of the decision–making process;
• Challenging the status quo, trying something new, adapting and refining when things have not worked well, and learning in the application of geographic science;
• Ensuring that best practice is captured and disseminated to others, including those not in the geographic profession, to help spread good practice and understanding.

Contribution to policy development: Recognising applying geographic knowledge and skills to develop excellent domestic or international policy-making in action, for example by:

• Developing or using a sound evidence base, ensuring geography forms part a variety of disciplines and sources, and applying robust analysis to understand the data and inform decision-making in support of policy and organisational objectives
• Incorporating geographic knowledge and evidence into a diverse range of inputs, showcasing open policy-making, engaging effectively with stakeholders, while managing the wider political context;
• Understanding the role of place in the development and design of policy development, delivery and user need as priorities from the outset, using new and innovative approaches, as appropriate.
• Capturing knowledge, research and data from a variety of disciplines and sources, collaborating with geo partners inside and outside government where appropriate, and using this information to influence policy development to deliver better outcomes
• The use of geographical insight to support the corporate decision making and corporate policy.

Excellence in geo-visualisation: Recognising excellence in geo-visualisation and mapping, in either the printed form or any mapping available in electronic format (including charts, dashboards and remotely sensed products), for example by:

• Undertaking high quality geo-visualisation which enables the user to gain new insight about the area covered;
• Ensuring that best-practice is captured and disseminated to others to help spread good practice and understanding.

[SPECIAL CATEGORY] Making a difference in Geography: This year we are introducing a category as an award for a team or individual who has made a difference within their work area through the application of geography or through promoting geography. This is not limited to a specific skill set, we are looking for people or teams who make significant contributions within the geography profession. For example:

• Championing geography within the public sector and the role geographers can play in the design and delivery of public policy;
• Promoting how geography can be applied across teams or operational units, ensuring that learning is captured and can be disseminated to others to help spread good practice;
• Supporting geographers either in your own organisation or across the public sector, growing the skill, capability and profession.
• Undertaking geographic related professional outreach to schools and universities to inspire the next generation of geographers and promote the range of opportunities in the public sector
• Someone who has made a significant contribution to the use and understanding of geography over a number of years
• This is open to anyone in the profession, whatever their career stage or seniority.

FAQ

Who is organising the Geography in Government (GiG) Awards?

The Government Geography Profession, sponsored by the Geospatial Commission, organise the GiG awards.

How do I enter?

You can enter yourself or be nominated by a colleague. The person(s) nominated might be contacted if the nomination is shortlisted for due diligence purposes. You may enter as many unique entries as you wish, across all categories, however each application must be submitted separately. Please do not submit the same entry for multiple categories. You must submit the application(s) by the deadline for the current year’s awards.

Who can enter the GiG Awards?

Any civil, crown or public servant who is currently employed and is a member of the Government Geography Profession at the time of nomination. If you are not a member of the profession and are a civil, crown or public servant, you may register at our members website.

Do I have to tell the person I am nominating them?

We advise that you let anyone you are nominating know that you have done so at your own discretion. It is not compulsory to do so but it is usually best to inform them in advance so they are not caught off-guard if they are shortlisted. It’s also an opportunity to let them know what fantastic work they have done!

Do you have any examples of nominations which have been successful?

You can find out more about previous years’ winners on our blog.

What time period should the work take place in?

These are annual awards so the work nominated should have been undertaken during the current calendar year.

Can I submit maps/charts to provide further evidence?

We welcome maps or charts as supporting evidence. These can be submitted via the nomination form and/or the details given therein. However, we won’t take any further written evidence into account, all written evidence should be included within the nomination form word limit.