Circuit

The most recent issue of Federal Computer Week honored the 2007 class of the Rising Star award winners. Read about the winners . Earlier this month, FCW honored the winners at an awards luncheon in Washington. The remarkable part of the program was that all 24 winners attended the luncheon — even those from out of town. At the event, Tim Young, deputy administrator of the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of E-Government and Information Technology and one of the Rising Stars judges, said that younger people can make a difference in government. “You don’t have to be a [member of the Senior Executive Service], to contribute,” Young said. “You don’t have to have gray hair. You don’t have to have a lofty title or be quoted in the trade rags frequently. This group proves you have to be energetic, you need to be passionate, you need to be willing to take risks and live with the consequences of that.” Next year, all the 1105 Government Information Group publications — FCW, Government Computer News and Washington Technology — will participate in the Rising Star program. FCW will focus on the policy/management winners; GCN on the technology winners; and Washington Technology on the business winners. The awards ceremony will be held in summer 2008, so we’ll be seeking nominations in just a few months. Speaking of Young, he’s been promoted. OMB has promoted him to deputy administrator in the Office of E-Government and Information Technology. Young had been the associate administrator in the same office for more than three years and has worked at OMB since 2003. In the new position, he will add oversight of enterprise architecture, capital planning, IT policy and cybersecurity to his portfolio, which already includes the 25 e-government initiatives, the nine lines of business projects and the e-government portion of the President’s Management Agenda, according to the OMB release. The promotion also places Young on the same level on the agency’s organizational chart as other principal OMB deputies. There are only a few more weeks to nominate people for the Federal 100 awards program. The nomination form is available at . Each year, people ask what the criteria are for Fed 100 winners.Unfortunately, the criteria are determined by the judges, and each judging panel is different. Here are some good guidelines to follow. Be short and sweet. Judges are generally looking for what the person has done that makes a difference or has influence. In the coming weeks, the FCW Insider blog will present some insights from people who have been judges. Read the . Here is one piece of advice from one of the judges: “Watch out for titles — people presiding over transformation driven by others are not the same as the drivers.” Again, each judging panel is different, but we will try to give you some insight about the kind of people we are looking for. When in doubt, nominate the person. The form is concise. We are looking for people who have influence, who have made a difference, who have taken risks. So take a risk and nominate them. A Dec. 3 article, “Support grows for e-prescribing,” should have said the American Health Information Community outlined conditions to be met before mandatory e-prescribing could take effect.