The call for nominations for the 2015 United Nations Public Service Awards (UNPSA) closed on 19 November after being extended from the original 31 October deadline. The UNPSA Team has now started the initial pre-screening of submissions to determine which initiatives meet the basic criteria for each category of the 2015 UNPSA.

The categories for the current cycle are i) Improving the Delivery of Public Services, ii) Fostering Participation in Policy-Making Decisions through Innovative Mechanisms, iii) Promoting whole-of-Government Approaches in the Information Age, and iv) Promoting Gender Responsive Delivery of Public Services.

Following the completion of the screening process, initiatives will be taken to the next rounds of evaluation which include substantive reviews with support of the staff of UN DESA’s Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) for the first three categories. For the last category, Gender Responsive Delivery of Public Services, DPADM collaborates with UN Women colleagues who will support with the reviews in that category.

The overall process of substantively evaluating UNPSA initiatives is estimated to take up to five months. Starting in December 2014, after the pre-screening process has been completed, the initiatives will be processed in two different rounds by DPADM and UN Women before being handed over to the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) for final review. CEPA will then endorse and decide on the final winners for the 2015 UNPSA.

As the pre-screening starts, initial numbers indicate that the UNPSA Programme has received 846 nominations coming from all the five regions of the world and in all categories. The majority of the nominations were received in English. Submissions are also distributed across all four UNPSA categories, with Category 1 (Improving the Delivery of Public Service) being the dominant category. Numerous countries which were underrepresented last year are participating in the 2015 UNPSA Programme.

For more information: UN Public Service Awards