Here is an award that certainly needs to be watched.

On February 25, the Digital Empowerment Foundation will be announcing the winners of its annual District Collector Digital Champion Awards. Organised for the fourth time under the flagship of Manthan Awards South Asia, the purpose of the award is to nudge more and more districts to implement information and communication technology (ICT) on the ground for its citizens.

The district collectors have to set out exactly what initiatives they have taken and the impact they are having in improving governance and bringing in transparency.

Apart from serving the public, empowering citizens and allowing them to participate in local decision-making, the award could go a long way in encouraging bureaucrats to aspire for an award that may well place their careers on the fast track. After all, the jury is bound to pick up the most innovative and hardworking of the lot.