Digital Sovereignty Leadership Award

Digital sovereignty is built by people, inside institutions, usually without much public credit. This award is for the public servant who did that work.

What this award recognises

Recognises public sector ICT leadership that has built sovereign digital capability, policy or infrastructure within their environment.

Who may enter

An individual working in a South African national or provincial department, municipality, state-owned company or public entity, with an ICT, digital or transformation role.

What this award looks for

Leadership that left the state, including SITA, with capability it owns, rather than a contract it depends on.

How entries are judged in this category

• C1, the work. What this leader personally built, drove or changed: policy, systems, teams or capability.
• C2, the difference it made. What improved for citizens, for their institution, or for the wider public service.
• Digital sovereignty. How it reduced dependence on outside providers and built capability the state (including SITA) now owns and can keep.

The three questions

• What did they do?
• What changed as a result?
• How has this reduced reliance on outside providers, and what capability does the state, including SITA, now own and keep?

If you have any of these, they will strengthen your entry

• The policy, strategy or architecture document they wrote or drove. A project approval or go-live note.
• Performance figures before and after. An annual report or APP extract that names the work. A short note from a colleague or from an institution that benefited.
• Anything showing the capability now sits in-house: training records, posts filled, or a contract clause that put the state in control of its own data.

One item proving the work is real is required. Email it to nominations@cut2black.co.za, with the award category and the name of the person or organisation you nominated in the subject line, at any time before 17:00 on 28 August 2026. Anything further on this list is welcome but not required.