The Graham Williamson Challenge is a travel award which enables a person starting out in ICT to undertake a short (up to a month) period of work experience abroad in order to broaden their understanding and knowledge of ICT in a wider public sector context. Host authorities are identified through the links Socitm has with similar professional associations all over the world. On return from their trip GWC winners are expected to produce a report based on their experience and if requested, deliver a short presentation to Socitm member meetings. Applications for the Award are invited during the summer and presented at Socitm's Annual conference.
The award, which was given for the first time in 2004, was established by Socitm in memory of Graham Williamson, former Head of IT Services, Argyll and Bute Council, who was killed in a motorbike accident in August 2000. Graham was passionate about IT, and was heavily involved in Socitm both at a regional and national level. He was particularly interested in mentoring young people in ICT. Previous winners of the GWC have visited New Zealand, Australia, America and India.
The winner in 2008, is Frances Kettleday, a Technical Project Manager with Cambridgeshire County Council.
As part of her job at Cambridgeshire CC, Frances is involved in planning delivery of an open access digital infrastructure for the proposed New Town of Northstowe, and plans to use her award to visit Sweden, the leading fibre nation within the EU, to gain experience of proven digital infrastructure solutions and applications.
Frances was presented with her Award by Socitm President Richard Steel and Helen Gilroy, Head of Local and Regional Government Business for Microsoft (sponsors of this year's Award) at the Society's annual conference, held in Newport 12-14 October.
You can read our press release about Frances's win on this website.