Awards & Accolades

The Department of Information Technology is the recipient of several prestigious awards honoring achievements in government technology.

8 Aurora Awards were given to the multi-media division of DoIT in the 2005 competition:

  • Platinum Best of Show (the top award)  for a commercial on Playland, titled “Just Like I Remember”  (category Entertainment/Amusement)
     

  • Platinum Best of Show for a PSA dealing with protecting children from child abuse, titled “Inoculate Your Child” (category Public Service-Non-Profit Sponsor)
     

  • Gold Award for a video on Playland, titled “Playland 75h Anniversary” (category Special Events/Anniversaries)
     

  • Gold Award for a video dealing with the issues of using the Internet to bully, titled “Cyberbullying” (category Issue Awareness)
     

  • Gold Award for a half-hour video distributed to schools dealing with issues affecting gay teens, titled “It’s Like this: Gay Youth (category Issue Awareness)
     

  • Gold Aware for PSA to encourage people to become volunteers, titled “Volunteer” (category Public Service-Corporate Sponsor)
     

  • Gold Award for a commercial co-sponsored by Volvo of Westchester to encourage seat-belt use by teens, titled “Buckle Up” (category Public Service-Corporate Sponsor)
     

  • Gold Award (the second-highest award) for a video on economic development in Westchester, titled “Westchester is Good for Business” (category Economic Development)

Statewide Criminal Justice Data Exchange Committee (XML) Selection
Kelly Odestick, Assistant CIO for Public Safety, was chosen to sit on the XML Working Committee.  This committee is part of the New York State Criminal Justice XML Messaging Standards Project, a collaborative multi-agency initiative bringing together both state and local agencies and associations. The goal is to come up with a New York state XML exchange standard for exchanging criminal justice data modeled after the Global Justice XML standard.  Project details... (*pdf) 

Oxford International Symposium on E-Government, May 2004
Dr. Norman Jacknis, CIO, was one of only two local government politicians to attend this premier E-government symposium.  Jacknis discussed Westchester's use of the Internet to enhance democracy.  About 35 participants from the US and Europe attended this symposium to learn about the "state of the practice of e-democracy." Westchester was previously a participant in a National Science Foundation project on electronic democracy.

Read the press release

North America Day, May 2004
Norman Jacknis, Westchester County's CIO, was the only local government CIO invited to speak at this international symposium in Quebec, Canad, bringing together top IT officials in American, Canadian, and Mexican Governments to discuss common issues. 

Harvard on Hudson, June 2003
Westchester County Government was the first local government nationwide to host a workshop to explore new and often technology-enable patterns of cooperation among government agencies and municipalities.  Professor Jerry Mechling of Harvard's John. F. Kennedy School of Government facilitated the one-day workshop and explored how Westchester compares to other governments and what can be gleaned from recent research. 

Read the press release

Best Practices Award, October 2003
The New York State Forum for Information Resource Management presented this award to Westchester County CIO Norman Jacknis for outstanding leadership to promote effective information resource management in New York State.

Historical Services Award of Excellence, October 2003        
In October 2003, the Lower Hudson Conference, a regional service for historical agencies and museums of the Hudson River Valley and the Greater Metropolitan Area, singled out the Virtual Archives for this award.  This website focuses on the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) of the Bronx River Parkway and  Reservation.  Although this was a collaborative effort involving a number of institutions, the Westchester County Archives was the lead agency.

Brass Ring Award, 2003
The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions presented a Distinguished Excellence Award to Playland Park and Westchester County for "TV Commercial – Class 4." 

The Brass Ring Awards honor originality, creativity and excellence in marketing among professionals in the amusement industry.

"Big W" Awards, 2001
Competing against dozens of advertising and marketing firms, Westchester County's efforts were recognized with five "Big W" awards at an Advertising Club of Westchester competition celebrating "the art of creativity."  The Department of Information Technology won the following:

  • A gold award in interactive/electronic media for a CD created to recruit staff for the IT department.

  • Two slivers—one in the corporate identity category for a logo publicizing the Westchester Information Technology Cluster, and one in overall design for the County Executive's Holiday Greeting Card. The card's millennium theme was illustrated by digital photography of the Michaelian office building.

  • A bronze in direct mail design for a promotional piece for Economic Development.

  • A bronze in electronic media/websites for the County Website. 

Read the press release

Finalist in E-government Competition, 2001
Westchester County's on-line Community Help Desk was selected as one of eight finalists in a nationwide competition to find the most "innovative and creative" uses of e-government." The Internet-based community Help Desk was chosen from more than 130 proposals entered in the Imagine E-Government Awards Competition, sponsored by the Council for Excellence in Government D.C.  The interactive technology provided by the Community Help Desk can be accessed through http://chd.westchestergov.com.

Read the press release

Certificate of Recognition: Westchester County's Community Help Desk, 2001
This award, in recognition of innovative government solutions, was presented to DoIT by the Eastern Regional Government Technology Conference Advisory Board. 

Read the press release

Second Place Programming Award for "Solutions," 2001
Presented to Westchester County by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors 

Excellence in the Educational Use of Local Government Records by a Local Government, November 2000
The Board of Regents and the New York State Archives presented the Westchester County Archives with this annual award.

Special Achievement in GIS Award, 1999
The Department of Information Technology was recognized by ESRI, a leader in GIS software and technology, for exemplary implementation of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications.  ESRI recognizes only one government agency in each state with this annual award.


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