The Australasian Evaluation Society is offering two Awards for Public Sector Evaluation. This is an annual Award which has been actively supported by New South Wales agencies since 1994. During this time New South Wales Government agencies have been successful in winning two of these awards.

The two Award categories for which nominations are currently being received are:

1 The Award for Public Sector Evaluation for contributions made in the public sector context of Australasia through an evaluation study.

2 The Award for Public Sector Evaluation for contributions made in the public sector context of Australasia through the development of evaluation policies, systems, frameworks and/or methodologies.

There is a great deal of excellent work in this field performed within our agencies and these Awards provide an opportunity for the New South Wales Public Sector to compete on a National basis for an independently judged award. I fully support participation in these Awards and ask that you closely examine the possibility of your agency making a nomination if appropriate.

Details of the Awards are attached for your information and any enquries can be directed to the Chair of the Awards Committee, Ms Sue Funnell on (02) 9817 0473.

C. Gellatly
Director-General

The Awards for Public Sector Evaluation

Nominations are sought for two Australasian Evaluation Society Awards for Public Sector Evaluation. The Awards are:

1. The Award for Public Sector Evaluation for contributions made in the public sector context of Australasia through an evaluation study.

2. The Award for Public Sector Evaluation for contributions made in the public sector context of Australasia through the development of evaluation policies, systems, frameworks and/or methodologies.

Information concerning eligibility, assessment criteria and procedures is attached. It will be noted from the description of the award that nominations may relate to a wide field of endeavours which have evaluation as part of their intent or their methodology, including, but not limited to:

• program evaluation;
• public sector change management strategies relating to the practice and use of evaluation (eg. policies, training programs, professional development strategies);
• performance measurement and monitoring;
• use of evaluation strategies as part of quality assurance and quality management;
• benchmarking to identify and adapt best practice;
• evaluability assessment; and
• meta-evaluation (evaluating the quality and usefulness of evaluations).

The scope of application of evaluation methodologies could include:

• programs;
• products;
• services;
• personnel;
• management strategies; and
• other public sector initiatives to improve performance.

Both individuals and groups (eg the internal review unit of an organization, or an evaluation team) can be nominated for the award. Nominations should be accompanied by evidence supporting the nomination and confirming the eligibility of the nominee.

Nominations should be sent by 30 June 1997 to:

Chair of the AES Awards Committee
c/o Eva Sullivan
AES Administration
PO Box 448
Curtin ACT 2605

Late nominations will not be accepted. Any enquiries concerning the nomination requirements should be directed to the Chair of the Awards Committee:

Sue Funnell (02) 9817 0473

Other members of the Awards Committee are Michael Hill (Queensland Department of Health), Professor Alex Wearing (Department of Psychology at Melbourne University) Associate Professor Martin Putterill (Department of Accounting and Finance, Auckland University) and Dr Marion Amies, (Department of Health and Family Services).

Award for Public Sector Evaluation - Best Evaluation Study

Nature of the Award

The purpose of the award is to recognise and promote evaluation in the public sector.

The Award for Public Sector Evaluation - Best Evaluation Study is to be given to an individual or team that has conducted an evaluation study that has made or has the potential to make a significant contribution to the practice and/or use of evaluation in the public sector context in Australasia. The award will take particular account of the responsiveness of the evaluation study to the public sector context and of innovative approaches to ensuring beneficial utilization.

The award will be an annual award in the form of a plaque. Commendations for other examples of outstanding work may also be given. The award will be presented at the annual National Conference of the Australasian Evaluation Society. In 1997 that conference will be held in Adelaide, 1 to 3 October.

Eligibility

1. Contributions to public sector evaluation can have been made by any person or team (eg an evaluation team, an ongoing work unit) irrespective of whether they are currently or have ever been an employee of a public sector agency provided that the contribution for which they are nominated has demonstrable benefits for public sector evaluation. Recipients could therefore include such people as politicians, staff in tertiary institutions and consultants. Nominees need not be members of the AES.

Note that the award goes to an individual or a team and not to the evaluation study per se.

2. Where an individual is nominated for the award clear evidence must be tendered that the individual was primarily responsible either directly or through leadership for the contribution in question. The committee may on occasion consider it appropriate to include in the award some recognition of the efforts of a team supporting the person receiving the award.

3. A group, team or work unit could also be nominated for the award instead of an individual. Such a nomination might be particularly appropriate where an evaluation study was outstanding in several different respects each of which could be attributed to different members of a team
eg design of the evaluation, methods of data collection and analysis, reporting of findings and methods used to gain acceptance of findings.

4. The scope of the award for best evaluation study could include evaluations of programs products, services, personnel, management strategies and other public sector initiatives.

Criteria for assessment of nominees

When reviewing nominations, the Awards Committee will be looking for outstanding performance in terms of considerations relating to

• usefulness and impact within the public sector environment,
• methodological quality and innovation,
• public sector cost-effectiveness and feasibility, and
• ethics and social justice.

Nominations should be presented to show how the evaluation study in question addresses these criteria.

Procedures

1. Nominations are to be made to the Chair of the Awards Committee by 30 June 1997.

2. Four (4) copies of the nomination are to be provided for distribution to the four members of the Awards Committee

3. The nomination must be for a person or team, and not for the project or initiative per se

4. Each nomination would be accompanied by supporting information and the names and contact points of two public sector referees at senior management level. Referees should as far as possible be independent of the nominee. The nomination should identify in what capacity and from what perspective each referee is qualified to comment on the nomination.

5. The nomination should be structured using the following headings which correspond to the criteria to be used in judging nominations:

· utility and responsiveness,

· methodological quality and innovation,

· public sector cost-effectiveness and feasibility,

· ethics and social justice

Sufficient supporting information describing the achievement should be provided to allow the Awards Committee to make discriminating judgments about competing nominations. Evidence should consist of demonstrable facts rather than broad assertions.

6. The Awards Committee may co-opt additional members with specific public sector expertise and perspectives for the purpose of judging nominations.

7. The Committee will by 31 August 1997 make one recommendation for the award to the National Executive and may make recommendations for other nominations to receive commendations.

8. The recipient(s) of the prize will be invited to attend the annual conference to receive the Prize.

9. The award is an annual one but the Awards Committee reserves the right not to make the award in any given year.