These are the 2024 winners of the ‘Oscars’ of government service

When Jerry Ma was announced back in the spring as a finalist for the Sammies — an awards program that honors excellence and innovation in the career federal service — he told Government Executive that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is a “perfect home” for him. 

“I believe that technologists can have an outsized impact in making our public service and public administration more responsive to the needs of today, the needs of the 21st century,” said Ma, the USPTO’s director of emerging technology and chief artificial intelligence officer. “By becoming a technologist in public service, I can essentially do my little bit to help reverse this asymmetry between public sector and private sector tech capabilities, which thereby furthers belief in government and our society and our way of life.” 

The nonpartisan, nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, which sponsors the Sammies, on Monday announced that Ma had won in the emerging leaders category, an award that recognizes federal employees under the age of 35. 

Ma developed new technology tools for USPTO, including one that sifts through the agency’s archives to point examiners toward documents that are most similar to the patent application under consideration. 

Officially called the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America medals, named after PPS’ founder, the program has honored more than 760 federal employees since 2002. This year’s honorees will be celebrated at a ceremony on Wednesday. 

"As we recognize the winners of this year’s Sammies on the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks — a stark reminder of the vital importance of effective government — we honor their passion, hard work and dedication, along with that of the more than 2 million civil servants who have answered the call to serve our country,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, in a statement. "During a time when federal workers face more scrutiny and damaging rhetoric than ever, these talented individuals have embodied the highest standards of public service in America. With the coming change in presidential administrations, our nonpartisan, merit-based civil service will, as always, provide the critical continuity of government that is so vital for our democracy.”

Other winners include: 

Federal Employee of the Year — Nancy Alcantara, Shannon Rebolledo, Justin Uphold and the Packers Sanitation Investigation Leads Team of the Labor Department for discovering more than 100 children ages 13 to 17 illegally working on dangerous machinery in 13 meat slaughterhouses across eight states. Their work led to a $1.5 million civil penalty, one of the largest in the agency’s history, and spurred an increase in child labor investigations. 

Paul A. Volcker Career Achievement — Christopher Mark of the Mine Safety and Health Administration for his work to prevent “roof falls,” which used to be the top cause of death for underground coal miners, but 2016 was the first year there were zero fatalities attributed to roof collapses. Author Michael Lewis recently profiled Mark for The Washington Post as part of a series titled “Who is government?” 

Management Excellence — Amira Boland formerly of the Office of Management and Budget for leading policies across nearly six years and two administrations to improve government services as the agency’s first-ever customer experience lead. Her work has led to timesaving Medicare enrollment, modernized online disaster assistance applications and a pilot program for eligible applicants to renew U.S. passports online. 

In an “exit interview” with NextGov/FCW, Boland said: “When I was writing my goodbye email and interacting with colleagues who were coming to say goodbye, the thing that just made me so emotional was…how many people I didn't expect the customer experience work had helped them do a thing — whether it was in their agency or at an interagency meeting or even budget examiners at OMB — stories I had never even heard of or known, that this [customer experience] movement had empowered them to do something different and something amazing.” 

Science, Technology and Environment — Marc Levitan and Long Phan of the National Institute of Standards and Technology for creating the world’s first building codes that are resistant to tornadoes, which kill more people annually in the U.S. than hurricanes and earthquakes combined. 

Safety, Security and International Affairs — Steve Calanog, Tara Fitzgerald and Pete Guria of the Environmental Protection Agency for directing the removal of 200 tons of hazardous materials from the 2023 Maui wildfires while respecting local cultural norms. 

In addition to these six winners, Yan Ping (Judy) Chen and Jay D. Evans of the Agriculture Department received the People’s Choice Sammie, which is voted on by the public. 

Chen described herself and Evans as “bee doctors” in an August interview with Government Executive after their win was announced. 

“We focus on bee diseases. We develop novel methods for disease diagnosis and treatment,” she said. 

In fact, they were the first to report the presence of a certain parasite in the U.S. honeybee population, which pollinate $15 billion worth of crops in the U.S. annually, and are currently developing treatments for it. They also came up with “bee detox technology” to help bees sickened by pesticides. 

Winners were selected by a committee of leaders in business and government, including Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla. and longtime PBS NewsHour reporter Judy Woodruff. 

PPS also will present the Spirit of Service award, “which recognizes individuals outside the federal workforce who have made a significant contribution to build a better government and a stronger democracy,” to “Captain America” actor Chris Evans, filmmaker Mark Kassen and technology entrepreneur Joe Kiani. The trio in 2020 co-founded A Starting Point, which is a video-based website that provides civic information and education.