Wanted: Insightful people for Fed 100 judges

Seeking good Fed 100 judges

There is just so much to write about this week, and I have been far behind. I got a ton of stuff from ELC, including a William and Mary senior who wants to be a government worker. We are going to track to see how the process goes. There was also the GCN Gala on Wednesday night. And then last night, I got to attend the Churchill Center's presentation of the Churchill Award for Statesmanship and Emery Reves Award, which were given to James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton, and Christopher Matthews, respectively. It was a really remarkable evening. I've had the opportunity to be surrounded by really remarkable people all week. Again, more on all of that at some point when there is time, I hope.

But amid all of those awards, we are entering the nomination season for Federal Computer Week's annual Federal 100 awards program. The nomination form will be up soon at www.fcw.com/fed100. Right now, you can begin submitting Fed 100 nominees by visiting http://www.fcw.com/events/fed100/2007/fed100_form.html. The other link eventually will go to the same place.

You have an important role in the Fed 100 awards -- nominations. When I was down at ELC, I got some criticism about last year's Fed 100 award winners: They were the people that everybody knows but didn't cull from the people who really do the work. One issue is that we often don't get nominations for those people, so we don't know who they are. If you know somebody who does good work, go ahead and nominate them.

Another tip: In the nomination form, make it clear and concise. Make it clear what the person did and why it matters. Short and sweet. Remember that judges have to read hundreds of nominations. The best nominations make it clear what the person did -- and why it matters.

One of the most important parts of the Fed 100 awards is the selection of the judges. As I try to say as often as possible, the Fed 100 awards are not selected by FCW editors. The judges decide. In addition to sorting through all of the nominations, they can recommend people themselves. So finding judges is very important.

Earlier this year, I made a plea for young people to help us with our CIO Summit -- and I got some great names. Thank you! So now you can help us find new names for Fed 100 judging.

Here are the general criteria we look for when pulling together the Fed 100 judging panel.

We try to find a good cross-section of judges:

* We like to get at least one judge from the Office of Management and Budget because they get a good cross-section view of government.
* We often like at least two people from the Defense Department because DOD is huge.
* We often like to pull at least one person from the General Services Administration -- again, they get a good view across government.
* We like to get several people from industry because industry does just a tad bit of government work these days.
* We like to find at least one person from outside the immediate DC area to get a non-Washington perspective.

I have already asked a few people to be judges, such as Dave Wennergren, deputy DOD CIO and vice chairman of the CIO Council.

So we are seeking your recommendations. If you have thoughts on somebody who would make a good Fed 100 judge -- or if you want to volunteer yourself -- let me know either by posting here or e-mailing me at cdorobek@1105govinfo.com. (It helps if you put "Fed 100 judge" in the subject line, so it doesn't get lost in the mass of e-mail.)

Again, the judges are critically important because they can enhance the nominations we get from everybody. When the panel works well, we get a list of Fed 100 winners that accurately represents the community for the past year.