Granicus names seven digital government award winners

Granicus has named seven winners in its Digital Government Awards across Australia and New Zealand, recognising public sector organisations and teams for work in citizen engagement, service delivery and transparency.

Now in its 15th year, the annual programme covers organisations that use Granicus systems. This year's winners include local governments and a project team focused on disability policy reporting, with awards for changemaking, community engagement, operational excellence, service delivery, total government experience, trust and transparency, and website design.

Clarence Valley Council won the Changemaker category for a live interactive mapping platform that let residents submit verified koala sightings. The council said the data feeds into NSW BioNet and informs environmental planning at state level.

Sutherland Shire Council took the Community Engagement award after shifting transport planning consultation to map-based local engagement. The award citation said the process reached 64,000 residents with less than AUD $400 in advertising spend and turned 365 location-specific insights into changes to its 10-Year Bike Plan.

Hunter's Hill Council received two awards. It won Operational Excellence for bringing fragmented digital systems onto a single platform, lifting online applications from less than 4% to more than 50%, reducing manual payments by 46% and halving request turnaround times, according to Granicus.

The council also won the Total Government Experience category for integrating its website, forms, payments and engagement tools into one digital process. That reduced online form completion times from as much as 60 minutes to less than five and cut inbound phone enquiries by 33%, Granicus said.

Corangamite Shire Council won the Service Delivery award for shifting consultation to a continuous digital participation model. The award noted that half of all engagement is now driven by young people using tools such as quick polls, idea boards and analytics-based feedback systems.

The Trust and Transparency award went to the Voice of Queenslanders with Disability 2025 Project Team. Granicus said the team delivered annual reporting based on input from more than 1,700 people with disability and used lived-experience data and analytics to monitor policy outcomes across housing, health, employment and inclusion over three years.

City of Parramatta won Website of the Year after redesigning and migrating a 1,000-page council website to a new platform in eight months. According to the award details, the work led to a 79% increase in visits, tripled search usage and improved access to services for more than 260,000 residents.

Measured results

The awards focused on measurable outcomes rather than broad digital strategy claims. Across the winners, cited results included shorter processing times, less reliance on manual transactions, broader resident participation and greater visibility of public decision-making.

Several projects also point to a wider pattern in local government service design, with councils using digital channels to replace or supplement traditional consultation and service processes. In some cases, that meant moving from one-off consultations to ongoing participation models. In others, it involved reducing the number of separate systems residents and staff need to navigate.

For councils, the practical effect can be seen in lower administrative workload and faster service handling. For residents, the reported gains include quicker access to online forms, clearer website navigation and more direct input into local planning decisions.

Public sector focus

Winners were selected based on demonstrable impact on citizen experience, organisational efficiency and public trust, Granicus said. The company works with thousands of public sector organisations globally, including agencies and councils across Australia and New Zealand.

Ian Roberts, ANZ Managing Director at Granicus, said: "Faster services, with processing times cut from weeks to days; clearer communications, with engagement reaching thousands more residents; and stronger trust, built through more open and inclusive decision‐making. Every year we see the ambition, creativity and commitment of public sector teams across Australia and New Zealand. This year's winners show what is possible when digital is used with purpose. They are improving how citizens engage with services and building more transparent, responsive government. We are proud to recognise their achievements."