This year’s Computing Awards for Excellence are open for entries – and, as always, one of the most competitive categories will be the Projects of the Year.

We are looking for readers to nominate IT projects that highlight the importance of new technology initiatives, and demonstrate the benefits of well-managed IT implementations for changing and improving business and public life.

If you believe your project meets these criteria, we want to hear from you.

This year, we have introduced two new project awards, and invite entries in six categories:

• Public Sector Project of the Year
• Private Sector Project of the Year
• Innovative Project of the Year
• Community Project of the Year
• Green Project of the Year
• Outsourcing Project of the Year

We are looking for projects that meet the following criteria:

Return on investment: how has the project improved your organisation and developed a competitive advantage or enhanced public services?

Innovation: has the project introduced new or leading-edge technologies, created different ways of working or supported a change in business direction?

Future growth: how will the project be developed and how will it support future growth or change in the organisation?

Management: was the project completed on time and to budget? What lessons did the implementation team learn to improve management of future projects? Were the project’s objectives achieved?

Excellence: does the project demonstrate that the use of technology is a vital enabler to improving organisational excellence, competitiveness or quality of service?

The project must have been completed after 1 July 2006 and involve a UK-based implementation. International projects will be considered, but only with a significant UK element.

To enter your organisation for one of the Project of the Year awards, prepare a summary of the project, detailing how the entry meets the criteria above.

You might want to explain the business objectives, give an idea of the size and scope of the implementation, when it was completed, and the benefits that your organisation has realised as a result of successful deployment. Please keep submissions below 750 words.

Then complete the form at the Computing awards web site, at: www.computing.co.uk/awards.

The final shortlists will be announced in September, in advance of the 15th annual awards ceremony at Battersea Park Events Arena, which takes place in London on 7 November.

Last year’s winners

Public Sector Project of the Year: London Grid for Learning – Shibboleth secure authentication

The London Grid for Learning (LGfL) unlocked the problem of how to give schools a single, secure, authenticated method of accessing disparate educational content from institutions and commercial providers.

LGfL’s solution – developed on open-source secure authentication system Shibboleth – has opened up access to a wealth of content for students and teachers.

Previously, the difficulty of managing secure authentication with multiple servers and providers was a serious obstacle to online learning. Now, a user can access any content, whatever and wherever it may be, using a single username and password.

Private Sector Project of the Year: BP – Turnaround tracking

BP refineries, chemical plants and other industrial sites periodically undergo major overhauls called turnarounds, where equipment is shut down for testing and maintenance.

During such turnarounds, sites generate no revenue, so the cost of downtime is enormous. This led BP to develop and deploy a wireless mobile task management system with the potential to save the company tens of millions of dollars annually.

It successfully switched from cumbersome paper-based tracking to the Task Tracker system, developed in partnership with supplier Syclo. This controls work assignments and provides real-time status information to workers via handhelds, as well as tracking equipment via RFID tags. An innovative wireless mesh network lets the system work even in wireless-unfriendly ‘heavy metal’ environments.

Voluntary Sector Project of the Year: The Scout Association – Programmes Online

The Scout Association introduced an innovative web resource that allows adult volunteers to develop a balanced weekly programme of activities for the 360,000+ young people involved in UK scouting.

Programmes Online, developed by Netcase Web Solutions, is a one-stop online shop where volunteers can build programmes from a national library of activities. More than just a database, it allows programmes to be designed, edited, printed and emailed.

Volunteers’ time is the Scout Association’s most valuable resource. Providing the same level of support using paid staff would have cost in excess of £383m a year.

Innovative Project of the Year: Army on Everest

The Army captured the Innovative award for its highly acclaimed Army on Everest web site, a marketing campaign that used cutting-edge web technologies such as mobile video feeds, podcasts and Google Earth.

The site generated more than one million hits during last year’s seven-week campaign and significantly boosted numbers of potential recruits.

Designed as a live event, it tracked three Army expedition teams in the Himalayas, with climbers uploading daily video and audio feeds, blogs and team positions via mobile satellite technology. It has since become the benchmark for how the organisation intends to communicate with potential recruits and the public.