Welcome to the GOV Design Winners Showcase, Awards Annual and Presentation 

Below are a set of resources to help you explore, learn and celebrate with the diverse, courageous and excellent projects that were awarded in the 2020 GOV Design Awards. Please take your time consuming this extensive set of projects we feature in the Awards Presentation and in the Awards Annual.

I'd like to thank the project commissioners & creators for the courageous work, I'd also like to thank the Award Managers that managed the authoring and submission of the award nominations, the jury and the team that bring these programs together. Without this collective effort, the awards wouldn't come together

Mark Bergin
Awards Chairman

Chairman's Message - extracted from the Awards Annual

2020 is the fifth anniversary of the GOV Design Awards. We started this program to recognise leadership, excellence and courageous, design-lead projects in the public and community sectors. Each of the 2020 awarded projects took a different path in searching for the unmet needs of the stakeholders and users, but they are all undeniably made for people.

2020 has been a year that has rocked the foundations of normal. The beginning of the year showed us what the early signs of climate change look like, and then by March we had all learnt a new term: ‘lockdown’ and our vocabulary expanded to sound like we’d been to
an epidemiology conference - COVID, flattening the curve, second wave, transmission, mortality rates, incubation. Importantly we understood that normal had been put on hold. We have all had
to strap in for the abnormal ride that has seen the least expected candidates pivot, adjust, flex, and reconfigure how they tackle the everyday.

Unfortunately to date, over half a million have lost their life and over the coming years that number will multiply many times. Our challenge is in how we accelerate to accomodate these new pressing needs, and later how we re-image the future.

So many aspects of life weren’t perfect before COVID - I encourage you to work tirelessly to make sure the shape of the government and community sectors post COVID are more aligned to the needs of the community, free from bias, and provide for equitable existence of all people, regardless of race, creed or economic stature.

Making systemic change in the government and community sectors is possible, but it takes time. The first horizon is what can be done inside existing rules & budgets. The next horizon is what can be done with a small change via a ministerial brief - ministers have a large capacity to reframe the department’s operations and policy. The third horizon is what needs to change in legislation to unlock gains in budget leverage, stakeholder outcomes and optics - when all three are available it is like Moses’ parting of the Red Sea, opening up a path to a better future.

At BETTER FUTURE we too are evolving. This is our 11th year of award programs, and with a new decade comes a new focus. Over the last ten years we have pushed as hard as possible to build the world’s largest network of award programs - along the journey there has been a range of supporting tools and programs that have evolved. They were creating some clutter, so we’ve been busy doing a re-org - anything to do with the Award Programs stays under the BETTER FUTURE banner, everything else moves under the ‘Design Exec Club’ or ‘Better Future’ banners.

The Design Exec Club is based on a dinner club I started in 2014 when touring through global design capitals. What began as an informal dinner conversation showed there was a glass ceiling for design conversations - it wasn’t punching through to the boardroom. Over the last 6 years, many of those dinner guests have been promoted to C-Suite positions and it proved high time to welcome in other C-Suite types to explore how design accelerates their organisational goals.

The Better Future banner is our future impact project - how do we ensure we are creating the best future for our grandchildren’s grandchildren? Yes, that’s right, five generations. Thought leadership that is going to create an equitable, environmentally and economically thriving model, needs to be long-term focused with short-term gains. That’s a Better Future.

Over the coming year we will be rolling out more improvements to the BETTER FUTURE Portal to make it even easier for Award Managers to nominate and celebrate awarded projects and enhance the awards showcase.

Again, congratulations, and keep maintaining your courageous stance.

Mark Bergin
Founder & Awards Chair
BETTER FUTURE

GOV Awards Annual

GOV Awarded Projects

GOV Awards Presentation