Data Sovereignty & Governance Award

Most institutions hold more data than they govern. This award is for those that closed that gap.

What this award recognises

Recognises public sector institutions that have excelled in governing and protecting the data they hold.

Who may enter

South African departments, municipalities, state-owned companies and public entities.

What this award looks for

Governance that is in force and operating, and that has changed something the institution can point to.

How entries are judged in this category

• C1, the work. How the institution governs its data: the rules, roles and practices actually in place.
• C2, the difference it made. What that governance made possible or prevented: better decisions, people protected, findings cleared.
• Sovereignty and control. Control over where institutional data lives and who can reach it.

The three questions

• What did they do?
• What changed as a result?
• Where does your institutional data live, and who is able to reach it?

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

• The approved data policy or governance framework, with its approval date.
• Audit findings opened and closed. A data-sharing agreement in use. Examples of decisions the data made possible.
• Where the data is hosted, and your data classification scheme.

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.