Best of New York Awards 2017 - Winners Announced

September 22, 2017 - The 2017 Best of New York Awards were announced today at Government Technology’s New York Digital Government Summit. Presented by e.Republic’s Center for Digital Government, in partnership with the state of New York, the Best of New York Awards  recognize state and local government organizations for their standout contributions, best practices and innovations in information technology that improve citizen services and internal operations.

This year’s Best of New York Awards include honors for:

• NYS ITS – Public Safety Cluster’s License Plate Reader Project, that placed license plate scanners on tunnels, bridges and NYS police cars to identify unsafe vehicles and suspects and aid in criminal investigations.
• The NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity’s ACCESS NYC, an open source, mobile-friendly eligibility screening application that provides New Yorkers access to benefits information in seven languages. Following implementation, the total number of New Yorkers completing the eligibility screening process per month has increased from 5,000 to 8,600 on average, and the completion rate has increased from 44 percent to 67 percent.

“We are honored to present this year’s Best of New York winners and recognize their exceptional dedication to enhancing services for New Yorkers,” said Teri Takai, executive director of the Center for Digital Government. “New York’s state and local government agencies have achieved considerable innovation this year, and we are confident the projects and individuals recognized at this summit will improve the lives of many citizens and businesses statewide.” 

Award recipients were selected based on criteria that included collaboration between agencies, innovative use of technology and the improvement of services to citizens or state and local government employees/operations.


Congratulations to the 2017 Best of New York Award Winners:

Demonstrated Excellence in Project Management
William McVicker, Project Leader
Dutchess County Office of Central and Information Services

Best IT Collaboration Among Organizations
License Plate Reader Project
NYS ITS - Public Safety Cluster

Best IT Collaboration Among Organizations
WebNY Web Services Transformation and Consolidation
NYS ITS - Enterprise Platform Services

Best Application Serving the Public 
ACCESS NYC
NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity

Best Application Serving the Public 
Discover DYCD
NYC Department of Youth & Community Development

Best Application Serving an Agency’s Business Needs
Tax Electronic Payments Solution
NYS Tax Department in partnership with NYS ITS

Best Application Serving an Agency’s Business Needs
Sign Information Management System (SIMS)
NYC Department of Transportation

Best Mobile/Wireless Project
HuntFishNY Mobile App
NYS ITS – Enterprise Business Solutions in partnership
with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

Most Innovative Use of Social Media/Citizen Engagement
Ossining Police Department Social Media Team
Village of Ossining

Best Data Analytics/Business Intelligence Project 
Transform NY - mNTCS Transformer Monitoring & Diagnostic System
New York Power Authority


For the story on the winners, CLICK HERE


Additionally, 23 Outstanding Customer Service Awards were presented to those dedicated to New York public service:  

Thomas Behan, Lead Customer Relationship Manager, NYS ITS Revenue and Transportation Cluster
Bryan Blume, Information Technology Specialist 3, NYS ITS
Laura Cahill, Program Manager of the Technology Coordination Unit, NYS Department of Taxation and Finance
Vicci Cook, Business Systems Analyst 1, NYS ITS Chief Portfolio Office
William Day, Director, End User Support, NYS ITS
Nancy Donohue, Lead Customer Relationship Manager, NYS ITS Revenue and Transportation Cluster
Leslie Farrow, Manager, Information Technology Services, NYS ITS Revenue and Transportation Cluster
Marie Huffman, Assistant Director of IT, NYS ITS Data Center Operations
Nate Hummel, Information Technology Specialist 4, NYS Office of the State Comptroller
Edward Knapp, Cluster Release Deployment Manager, NYS ITS Human Services Cluster
Albert Kolar, Information Technology Specialist 2, NYS ITS/End User Services
Ron Lammarado, Assistant Director of IT, NYS ITS Enterprise Platforms
William Mackey, Information Technology Specialist 3, NYS ITS
William Meade, Manager, Information Technology Services, NYS ITS Revenue and Transportation Cluster
Matthew Mimura, Creative Designer, NYS ITS
Gregory Myers, Information Technology Specialist 4, NYS ITS Human Services Cluster
Lisa Pjontek, Cluster Change Management Coordinator, NYS ITS Human Services Cluster
Matthew Potter, Customer Relationship Manager, NYS ITS
David Schuchman, Citizens Service Cluster Solutions Architect, NYS ITS
Kim Sierzega, Training Coordinator, NYS Senate
Jeffrey Smith, Information Technology Specialist 2, NYS ITS Revenue and Transportation Cluster
Sharon Tate, Manager Information Technology Services 1, NYS Thruway Authority
Paul Thompson, Cluster Budget Manager and Liaison, NYS ITS Human Services Cluster


About the Center for Digital Government

The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government. 

The Center is a division of e.Republic, the nation’s only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government and education. www.erepublic.com

For questions, please contact Janet Grenslitt, Director of Surveys and Awards, at jgrenslitt@centerdigitalgov.com.