FCW Insider: Fed 100 advice, part three

I know this sounds wishy-washy, but... it depends. It depends on the program and work. It depends on the nomination. It depends on the nominators. As a general rule, the number of nominations doesn't really impress the judges -- particularly if they are all just cut and pasted. That being said, it probably would impress them if there were a number of clearly unique nominations.As a general rule, let the judges know why this person was influential and made a difference.Again, not to be wishy-washy, but... it depends. Generally, probably not. Some projects clearly deserve more then one winner, so they judges are happy to know the people who were key to the program/project/work. In some cases, the judges will determine that one Fed 100 award will go to that project and then they will determine who the person is. So... it depends. Make the case.Recent winners can be found atVendors are absolutely eligible. That being said, the criteria generally seems to be higher for vendors. That is largely because... well, they get paid and earn a profit for their work. Often there will be nominations for the work that somebody did growing their company. For example, let's say that Company XYZ has grown dramatically in the past year. They won a number of contracts. OK, that's great, but... how does that make government better? What impact has that had on the larger government information technology community? How does that help agencies accomplish their missions more effectively?That is not to say that vendors won't win for big contract wins. Some vendors have taken such a unique contracting approach, that it did impact the government IT community. Or they took such a risk, that they changed the way people think about a program.I hate to sound like a broken record, but make the case — short and sweet. Let the judges know why this person matters.The second part of the question -- no, it is not necessary for the nominators to be government folks. That being said, a company nominating one of its own can be difficult because the big question judges ask is that this person made a difference on all of government information technology. If the nominators only come from that company, the broader significance is more difficult to assess. It isn't impossible. If the write-up is particularly good, it certainly is possible. It just tends to be more difficult.If you have questions, and I'll get back to you and/or post the questions here.