Award Cycle

Applications are accepted throughout the year. The 2009 call for applications is now closed; applications submitted will be considered for the upcoming application cycle. More information on the Innovations in American Government Awards program>>

Innovation in American Government Awards Application
Apply here for the 2010 Innovations in American Government Awards>>

On September 9, 2008, the winners of the 2008 Innovations in American Government Awards were honored at a reception and gala at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C.

“For over 20 years, the Innovations in American Government Awards has been at the forefront of identifying government initiatives with the strongest potential for improving the lives of citizens,” said Stephen Goldsmith, director of the Innovations in American Government Awards at Harvard Kennedy School. “Each of today's winners produced a new, bold way of addressing a previously intractable problem.”

Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano delivered the keynote address on how, as a leader, she created an environment conducive to innovation. Listen to the Governor's remarks>>

“From juvenile justice to the security of our global waters and prison re-entry, these government programs demonstrate creative, novel solutions to our nation’s most pervasive challenges,” said Anthony Saich, director of the Ash Institute. “Such innovations prove instrumental to our work at the Ash Institute, enhancing scholarly research in our classrooms and driving policy and legislative changes at the state and federal levels.”

2008 Innovations Award winner and United States Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell concluded the evening with thoughts on the origin of innovation in the intelligence community. Listen to Director McConnell's remarks>>

The event premiered Visionaries 2008, a PBS-produced documentary featuring two-minute vignettes of this year's winning programs. Watch the documentary. The following government programs were honored as 2008 Innovations in American Government Awards winners:

Acquisition Fund – City of New York, New York

Division of Youth Services – State of Missouri

Getting Ready: Keeping Communities Safe – State of Arizona

Global Maritime Domain Awareness – US Department of Transportation

Intelligence Community Civilian Joint Duty Program – Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Learn and Earn – State of North Carolina

This year's finalists presented before the National Selection Committee on June 12, 2008. To watch their presentations, please visit the following links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Each year, the members of the Innovations National Selection Committee meet to select the winners of the Innovations Awards. Learn more about the Committee's current members.

	National Selection Committee	David Gergen, Chairman National Selection Committee

In 2007, the Ash Institute celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Innovations in American Government Awards Program. This milestone is an opportune time to revisit the impact of and lessons learned from government innovations worldwide, as well as to identify areas for new research in the field of government innovation. The Ash Institute is executing a constellation of activities surrounding the 20th Award Year, commenced at the awarding of the 20th Year of Innovations Award Winners in the fall of 2007, and culminating in an international conference where that will bring together finalists and winners of the Innovations in American Government Awards from the past 20 years and their counterparts from across the world.

The Innovations in American Government Awards Program, throughout its history, has generated a great deal of research based on winning and finalist programs and on the study of innovation. Below are the different types of research related to Innovations which others will find useful in their own work. The links below offer more information on Harvard Kennedy School case studies, books on government innovation, Ash Institute publications, as well as outside resources, some of which are produced by winners of the Innovations Award.

Since 1986, the Innovations in American Government Awards Program has recognized over 400 innovative programs and awarded a total of nearly $20 million in grants. Of these programs, 187 have been named winners and received $100,000 grants.

These programs represent the finest initiatives undertaken by American government during the last 20 years. Visit the Government Innovators Network to learn more about these creative government initiatives.