Award winner gives tips on garnering $100,000 prize

The last day to apply for the Ford Foundation's $100,000 1999 Innovations in American Government awards is Jan. 8. Your agency's work may be worthy of the prestigious prize, but it takes more than a witty application to rise above the 1,500 other applicants.

Barbara Rosenfeld, a Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) official who garnered an award this year, offers seven hints for a winning application. CPSC's Fast-Track Product Recall Program was one of only three federal winners of the ten 1998 $100,000 awards.

Rosenfeld presented her tips to a Federal Communicators Network workshop in November.

1. Nominate an outstanding project. It will be judged at each stage according to whether it is novel, effective, significant and transferable. You should constantly keep those criteria in mind as you make your case.

2. Prepare a well-written and convincing application. It's not only what your program has achieved that matters-it is also how well an outsider can understand what you have done. Your submission should be in plain language, understandable to someone who knows little or nothing about your agency or the program. Remember that it will be competing against 1,500 or more applications.

3. Find a high-level "champion" in your agency. You will need help and the assistance of many people throughout the application process. You should have strong support from someone who has the authority to ensure cooperation whenever you need it.

4. Recruit a team of people to help you create a winning submission. You need reviewers to read your application from policy, program and communication perspectives. You need enthusiastic program people to make presentations to your site visitor. You may want to invite outsiders to give you a fresh perspective.

5. Demonstrate measurable results. How has this program made a difference? How has it helped you achieve your mission? What results can you show? If you haven't measured results before, you will need to develop some meaningful measures.

6. Prepare well for the site visit. Your site visitor will be very knowledgeable and will spend considerable time reviewing your program. Assume he or she will probe deeply and ask the hardest questions. Prepare to back up every statement you have made about the program. Be imaginative in demonstrating that your program is as good as you say it is. You may want to bring in an outside customer or client to help you make your case.

7. Choose your best communicator for your oral presentation. It is critical that you give an effective five-minute presentation to the judges. It puts a human face on your application. Find one or two people who can convincingly demonstrate to the judges that your program should win the award.