The 2009 Rising Star awards: A call for nominations

Do you know an up-and-coming government or industry employee who is making an early — and substantive — mark in the federal information technology community?

If so, now is the time to bring him or her to the entire community’s attention. The 1105 Government Information Group, publishers of Federal Computer Week, Government Computer News and Washington Technology magazines and Web sites, is now accepting nominations for the 2009 Rising Star awards program.

To access the submission form, click here. Nominations are due April 27.

The Rising Star awards program is an opportunity for agencies and contractors to give their unsung heroes a moment in the spotlight, both as a reward to them and as an example to others. Such employees often do good work behind the scenes supporting essential programs or spearheading new initiatives — without ever receiving public recognition. To view the list of last year's winners, click here.

Here are the basic guidelines:

• Individuals in both government and industry are eligible.
• There is no age limit, but we are looking for employees in the first third of their career in the federal IT community. This leaves room for those who went into public service in midcareer.
• As with the Federal 100 awards, our 20-year-old program honoring the top government IT professionals, the independent panel of experts we’ve assembled as Rising Star judges will be looking for individuals who have gone above and beyond their job descriptions to make a lasting impact in their organization.
• The judges also will be looking for indications that the nominees have clear potential to grow into more responsibility in their organizations and in the community at large.
• As with the Fed 100 nomination process, the Rising Star nomination form includes a place for supporting nominators. If you nominate someone but are not his or her supervisor, please ask the supervisor to serve as a supporting nominator. And do not list the supervisor without asking first.

If you have a question, post a comment below (be sure to include your name and e-mail address in the form so that we can contact you if necessary).