Submissions should focus on:

• The objectives the campaign was intended to achieve;
• A summary of the campaign strategy, including target audiences, media, image, timing and budget etc;
• The extent to which the campaign achieved the objectives including, for example securing behavioural changes;
• The evidence base used to inform the need for and contents of the campaign and measure its impact;
• The extent to which partner organisations were involved in the campaign

Award entries will be judged on:

• The quality of the campaign, including design, format, delivery and evaluation;
• The impact of the campaign and the extent to which it achieved the council’s objectives;
• How the campaign contributed to the council’s wider objectives and strategy.

Submissions should focus on:

• The council’s approach to meeting the needs of, for instance:
• children who need help and protection, including early help
• children looked after, including adoption, fostering and the use of residential care
• young people leaving care or preparing to leave care
• children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities
• The council’s approach to identifying and supporting new areas of need.
• The council’s main achievements (supported by evidence), with a particular focus on tangible improvements in the lives of children and young people;
• The steps you took to secure those achievements and the most important drivers of change;
• Any innovative approaches you have adopted, including in their relationship with schools.

Award entries will be judged on:

• The scale of the council’s ambition in this area and the extent to which it is being achieved;
• The extent to which you have adopted a strategic approach to children’s services, including early intervention;
• The quality of your relationship with schools, the health service and other key agencies;
• The impact of your service on the lives of children and young people.

Submissions should focus on:

• Summarising the project concerned and the nature of the community involvement;
• Setting out the aims of the project and the extent to which they have been achieved within the relevant timescale;
• How community engagement contributes to the council’s wider objectives and strategy;
• The main drivers of success and the approach the council has taken.

Award entries will be judged on:

• Evidence of community satisfaction with the process and achievement of the council’s objectives;
• The depth and extent of community involvement, in particular in getting people involved who would not otherwise have done so;
• The extent to which the involvement has influenced service quality and/or the way in which the council works;
• The contribution to the council’s wider objectives;
• The sustainability of the approach.

Submissions should focus on:

• Summarising your council’s vision, its current objectives, the steps it is currently taking to achieving those objectives and your success in doing so, within the relevant timescale;
• Specific evidence of the quality of the council’s performance during the period in question, including performance of and outcomes achieved by the major services; community leadership and collaboration;
• What makes your council distinctive;
• What you think makes your council excel and what you feel other councils could learn from what you have done;
• The council’s contribution to sector-led improvement.

Award entries will be judged on:

• The scale and underlying sustainability of the council’s achievements and the quality of the evidence to substantiate them;
• The boldness and likely deliverability of the council’s vision;
• The underlying success of the council in combining significant public service improvement and reform with budget cuts and efficiency savings;
• The contribution of the political and managerial leadership, partnership working and community engagement;
• The resilience of the council’s work in difficult times in areas including: economic growth, housing, the ageing society, health inequalities, adult social care and children’s services;
• The council’s contribution to the wider local government sector;

This award will be judged through both a site visit by judges and by a presentation to judges. Entrants are urged to use the visit to give judges access to the people – officers, members, staff, the public and representatives of local public sector partners, the business community and third sector organisations – who can prove the council’s success in the above criteria.

The entrant should manage the timing of the site visit. Please ensure the visit is used to give the maximum possible sense of why the council is a worthy winner, but also to ensure judges have plenty of time to ask questions.

After the awards LGC will work with the winning council to share their story more widely across local government through an article and webinar.

Submissions should focus on:

• A description of your digital vision;
• An account of how you have embedded the use of technology across the authority or within the relevant team;
• An assessment of how technology has helped achieve your organisational vision and has improved outcomes, for instance in several priority services or across your place as a whole;
• If applicable, the ways in which the embedded use of technology within the organisation has resulted in new or innovative solutions or contributed to positive outcomes
• A detailed explanation of how collaborators were involved in the transformation process;
• A description of how the role of digital in creating real impact was realised across the authority or within a team or department to support your organisation’s strategy.

 Award entries will be judged upon:

• First and foremost, evidence that digital has created a tangible business change to facilitate improved outcomes, for instance for service users, staff, a directorate in the council or your place as a whole;
• Evidence senior managers have a clear understanding of the role digital plays in the future delivery of their services and the function of their directorate as well as the future of council which is well articulated and understood across the organisation;
• The level of innovation and ambition in using technology to reform ways of working;
• Evidence of how digital was used to drive reforms and initiatives;
• Examples where your technology agenda can be linked to improved outcomes for service users, staff and better collaboration between stakeholders.

Judges will be looking for evidence of at least three of the following:

• Inclusive leadership that filters down to all levels and the promotion of positive role models within or beyond the council;
• Diversity and inclusion focus in areas such as staff engagement, training, employee networks, and the work that has taken place to create a culture that fosters positive change within and beyond the organisation;
• Evidence of positive outcomes from specific initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion within the council or the wider local area.
• Evidence of actions and activities taken to create and deliver inclusive recruitment processes.
• Boldness in setting benchmarks for diversity and inclusion, and measurable progress towards them;
• Evidence that diversity and inclusion are central to all of the council’s work, including its partnerships and work with service users.

Submissions should focus on:

• The council’s actions, and their impact, with a particular focus on evidenced achievements and data to prove the scale and success of the authority’s actions;
• Explaining how the council is working with local partners, potentially including business sectors
• Setting out the specific local nature of the challenge to which the council is responding;
• The council’s use of business intelligence/data to inform its activities;
• How all relevant council services respond to the needs of business;
• The key programmes and initiatives the council is pursuing;
• Summarising the council’s ambitions for the future of its economy/the sector in question and its priorities for achieving that ambition

 Award entries will be judged on:

• The nature of the council’s ambition and the steps it has put in place to achieve it;
• Evidence of the impact of the council’s activities on the economy/sector in question;
• The quality of the council’s relationship with business and its partners and impact of those relationships on action to support the economy in its area;
• The quality of the council’s use of business intelligence;
• The relationship between the council’s growth ambitions and the council’s wider strategic objectives;
• Evidence of the responsiveness of the council as whole to the needs of business.

Submissions should focus on:

• A full description of the project and its aims;
• A detailed explanation of costs, how it was funded and where the expertise for it came from;
• The impact of the council’s work on the lives of local people, for instance by showing how their concerns led to a positive response or community engagement impacted upon it;
• Any links between policy on the environment and other objectives including economic growth and net zero;
• Examples of resilience in the face of considerable challenges;
• Evidence that the project has met its goals.

 Award entries will be judged upon:

• The extent to which the council’s work was an innovative response to a significant concern and potentially can be replicated in other areas;
• The quality of the outcomes obtained from the project, for instance in improved or more efficient services, benefits to the environment or with regards to the resilience of services;
• Links between environmental sustainability and other policy areas including economic growth;
• Evidence of buy-in to the project or its goals from members of the local community or external organisations.

Submissions should focus on:

• The specific local challenges you are seeking to address, the objectives you have set in response to those challenges and the steps you have taken to achieve them;
• The extent to which your council is playing a system leadership role, including engagement with its integrated care system or integrated care board and health and care providers;
• How your approach relates to the national context in relation to integration of health and social care and the personalisation agenda;
• The milestones you have set – particularly within the relevant timescale – and the extent to which you have achieved them.

 Award entries will be judged on:

• The ambition and creativity of your approach;
• The impact of your approach, particularly in relation to evidenced benefits for citizens/service users and patients, and resource implications;
• The extent to which you have adopted a whole-systems approach;
• The sustainability of the changes you have introduced.

Submissions should focus on:

• A full description of the project and the challenge or opportunity it is intended to address;
• A description of how it has been resourced and the number of staff involved in delivering it;
• Details of how the council has worked with external organisations to bring about progress, including social landlords, the construction industry, landowners and the financial services industry; as well as details of how it has worked with the individuals set to benefit from the initiative;
• Evidence that the scheme in question has been successful.

Award entries will be judged upon:

• The level of innovation shown in overcoming the barriers to progress and improving access to housing, or to the problem being tackled;
• The extent to which the evidence shows that projects have met the challenge in question;
• The entrant’s ability to work with other organisations and members of the public to provide solutions;
• The extent to which the project provided a unique local solution to an issue facing that area.

Submissions should focus on:

• The nature of the policy or service they consider to be innovative;
• The process by which the policy or service was developed or introduced, including the involvement of service users, business and frontline staff;
• What makes it genuinely innovative;
• Evidence of outcomes, for instance how services have been improved, made more viable or resilient, and/or costs reduced;
• What learning there is from the innovation.

 Award entries will be judged on:

• The extent to which the policy or service design is genuinely innovative;
• The scale of the outcomes brought about by the project in question;
• The degree of innovation in the process by which the policy or service was developed and implemented;
• The extent to which the innovation helped the council to achieve its intended objective;
• The extent to which the council has created a wider culture of innovation.

Submissions should focus on:

• Please state clearly the name of your team and the number of members it had at the time of the award submission at the top of your entry;
• A brief description of the role and membership of your team;
• Your team’s current objectives and achievements with a particular focus on the relevant timescale;
• How the objectives of your team are set, how you measure the extent to which you have achieved those objectives and what you do with the results of that measurement;
• Who the customers of your team are and how you ensure that you are responsive to their needs;
• How the team contributes to the council’s wider objectives;
• How you develop effective team working.

 Award entries will be judged on:

• The team’s performance within the relevant timescale and in particular evidence showing the extent to which it achieved its objectives and contributed to the council’s wider  priorities;
• The team’s responsiveness to changing customer needs, evidence of its performance and the council’s strategic objectives;
• Its demonstrable commitment to developing effective team working and overcoming any challenges it has faced.

Submissions should focus on:

• Please state clearly the name of your team and the number of members it had at the time of the award submission at the top of your entry;
• A brief description of the role and membership of your team;
• Your team’s current objectives and achievements with a particular focus on the relevant timescale;
• How the objectives of your team are set, how you measure the extent to which you have achieved those objectives and what you do with the results of that measurement;
• Who the customers of your team are and how you ensure that you are responsive to their needs;
• How the team contributes to the council’s wider objectives;
• How you develop effective team working.

Award entries will be judged on:

• The team’s performance within the relevant timescale and in particular evidence showing the extent to which it achieved its objectives and contributed to the council’s wider priorities;
• The team’s responsiveness to changing customer needs, evidence on its performance and the council’s strategic objectives;
• Its demonstrable commitment to developing effective team working and overcoming any challenges it has faced.

Submissions should focus on any of the following:

• The drivers for change – what issues you were seeking to address through the improvement or change programme
• The improvement goals you set, focusing in particular on milestones for 2025 which demonstrate that you are achieving them;
• Explaining the management skills and input of the wider council team, including councillors where relevant
• The impact of the improvement process with a particular focus on outcomes for citizens and resource implications;
• The approach adopted to leading and managing the improvement process, including workforce engagement
• The key drivers which enabled you to deliver the improvement you have achieved;
• Lessons for other councils from the council’s improvement journey.

Award entries will be judged upon:

• The ambition of the improvement objectives;
• The extent to which the improvement programme achieved its goals and the quality of the evidence substantiating those achievements;
• The quality of leadership and stakeholder engagement deployed to achieve the improvements;
• The council’s capacity for and commitment to continuous improvement;
• The council’s contribution to sector-led improvement

Submissions should focus on:

• A full description of the project and its aims;
• A detailed explanation of how it was funded and where the expertise for it came from;
• Any evidence of how the council has worked or engaged with, or influenced the behaviour of local people;
• Links between policy on climate change and other objectives including economic and social wellbeing;
• Evidence that the project has met its goals.

Award entries will be judged upon:

• The extent to which the council’s work was an innovative response to a significant concern and potentially can be replicated in other areas;
• The quality of the outcomes obtained from the project, for instance in improved or more efficient services, or measurable reductions in local carbon emissions;
• Links between climate response and other policy areas including economic wellbeing and regeneration;
• Evidence of buy-in to the project or its goals from members of the local community or external organisations.

Submissions should focus on:

• The individual’s job title, with an explanation of their remit and expected responsibilities;
• A description of the exceptional challenges they have faced in the period in question;
• An explanation of why their work was out of the ordinary, for instance why what they did was innovative, their ability to work alongside other people including external partners and the level of dedication and resilience that they displayed;
• Evidence of their impact and the success of their work in terms of goals accomplished and any data confirming this;

Award entries will be judged upon

• The scale of the qualities demonstrated by the individual – such as innovation, resilience, compassion, flexibility and creativity, as well as evidence of the impact it has had;
• The extent to which their work can inspire and influence the rest of local government;
• The individual’s ability to network, influence, share knowledge and offer support across the system, potentially including with partner organisations, councillors and at all levels of the council;
• The extent of their commitment to bring about improvement.

Submissions should focus on:

• The vision for change and the evidence base used to support it
• Evidence of community engagement and support
• Key milestones in the project and delivery against them
• Evidence of improvements to the place and the wider economic area
• Barriers faced and how the project overcame them

 Award entries will be judged on:

• The quality and clarity of the vision
• How physical, social, economic and cultural factors were considered in tandem to design the intervention
• The scale of improvements delivered (relative to the scale of the intervention)
• The quality of collaboration with partners and the community
• Evidence that the affected communities, whether residential or business, value the difference made by the intervention

Submissions should focus on:

• Setting out the public health priorities the council has adopted and the reasons for doing so;
• How you are using evidence to develop effective strategies;
• Evidence of the impact of those strategies on the health and wellbeing of the population or the particular groups targeted;
• Evidence of collaboration within the council or with partner organisations to deliver on public and population health objectives.
• The boldness and vision behind the council’s strategies;
• Evidence showing the council’s work is having an impact on broader population health or on specific public health objectives;
• The extent to which you have implemented evidence-based solutions to public health problems;
• How cross-departmental and partnership working is having an impact;
• How you are overcoming barriers to implementation.

Submissions should focus on:

Please give details of what which bodies are involved in the partnership, what they do, and what services or areas of work are covered by the partnership in question;

• Details of the scale of the partnership, for instance in number of people involved and financial value of the work it undertakes;
• A summary of governance and financial arrangements (although judges are asked to note that commercial confidentiality may mean there are legitimate limits to the information available);
• The objectives of the partnership;
• Evidence of how these objectives have been achieved;
• Evidence of a comprehensive buy-in from the partners;
• Evidence of the success of the partnership, especially in terms of measurable outcomes/ improvements to services, reduced costs and impact on residents.

Award entries will be judged on:

• Evidence that partnerships have the potential to be long-lasting, with the partnership structured to tackle whatever challenges participants face;
• The extent to which the evidence shows the partnership is improving services and/or reducing costs or, tackling a previously unmet need.
• The extent to which the partnership has added real value to the outcomes for local communities;
• The innovative nature of both the partnership itself and the work it is undertaking.

Submissions should focus on:

Please give details of which bodies are involved in the partnership, what they do, and what services or areas of work are covered by the partnership in question;

• Details of the scale of the partnership, for instance in number of people involved and financial value of the work it undertakes;
• A summary of governance and financial arrangements;
• The objectives of the partnership;
• Evidence of how these objectives have been achieved;
• Evidence of a comprehensive buy-in from the partners;
• Evidence of the success of the partnership, especially in terms of measurable outcomes/improvements to services, reduced costs and impact on residents.

Award entries will be judged on:

• Evidence that partnerships have the potential to be long-lasting, with the partnership structured to tackle whatever challenges participants face;
• The extent to which the evidence shows the partnership is improving services and/or reducing costs;
• The extent to which the partnership has added real value to the outcomes for local communities;
• The innovative nature of both the partnership itself and the work it is undertaking.

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

• Innovative work which has delivered demonstrable change;
• Examples of outstanding resilience in the face of challenges;
• A first class understanding of the political process and ability to work effectively with councillors;
• Experience of networking at all levels;
• Sharing knowledge within the sector;
• A commitment to innovate and finding better ways of doing things.

Submissions should focus on:

• Please state clearly the name of your team and the number of members it had at the time of the award submission at the top of your entry;
• A brief description of the role and membership of your team;
• Your team’s current objectives and achievements with a particular focus on the relevant timescale;
• How the objectives of your team are set, how you measure the extent to which you have achieved those objectives and what you do with the results of that measurement;
• Who the customers of your team are and how you ensure that you are responsive to their needs;
• How the team contributes to the council’s wider objectives;
• How you develop effective team working.

Award entries will be judged on:

• The team’s performance within the relevant timescale and in particular evidence showing the extent to which it achieved its objectives and contributed to the council’s wider priorities;
• The team’s responsiveness to changing customer needs, evidence on its performance and the council’s strategic objectives;
• Its demonstrable commitment to developing effective team working and overcoming any challenges it has faced.