Hawaii.gov takes home ‘Best Government Website’ honor

Hawaii.gov, the main Web portal for the state of Hawaii, was named the “Best Government Website” Monday as part of the Web Marketing Association’s 2014 WebAwards.

The awards looked at more than 1,500 entries from 40 countries in 96 different categories and judged on things like design, ease of use, innovation and use of technology.

“We are continuously gaining momentum to better serve the people of Hawaii online instead of waiting in line,” Hawaii chief information officer Keone Kali said in a statement. “We are focused on the implementation phase of the transformation plan and this is just one example of the solid and innovative work our team is doing.”

Hawaii.gov was re-launched in 2013 as a comprehensive update to the state’s main Web portal and released in conjunction with upgrades to webpages across all state departments and agencies, enhanced mobile, touch and speech capability, increased consistency and improved accessibility.

The update was part of the state’s award-winning Business & Information Technology/Information Resource Management (IT/IRM) Transformation Plan unveiled in 2012.

The newly designed Hawaii.gov was developed via a collaborative effort with Hawaii Information Consortium, Hawaii’s state Internet Portal Manager and an affiliate of NIC, and the Office of Information Management Technology.

“This award represents the amazing vision and leadership of the Gov. Abercrombie, the partnership of departments and a relentless commitment to excellence by OIMT and HIC,” the governor’s chief advisor on technology and cybersecurity, Sonny Bhagowalia, who launched the modernized Hawaii.gov as Hawaii’s first CIO.

Since the re-launch, Hawaii has routinely received more than a dozen honors for the site’s success.