The 2011 Merit Awards challenge Americans and global citizens to generate and submit ideas for ways IT can improve the quality of U.S. government services.  A simple submission form with eight categories to choose from is located at www.meritalk.com/meritaward and the deadline is August 1. The best overall idea wins a $50,000 prize.  

Judges include: Vint Cerf (Google), Congressman Gerald E. Connolly, Honorable Mark Forman (First Administrator for E-Government and IT, U.S. Office of Management and Budget), Vivek Kundra (Federal Chief Information Officer), Tom Soderstrom (IT Chief Technology Officer, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab) and Steve O’Keeffe (MeriTalk).  

MeriTalk will announce the winner on August 23 at the Innovation Nation Forum in Washington.