Governor Timothy M. Kaine congratulated the winners in Virginia's annual Governor's Technology Award program on Monday, October 5 during the 11th annual Commonwealth of Virginia Innovative Technology Symposium (COVITS) in Williamsburg. Awards were given for excellence in use of information technology in eight categories, including three that represent the unique challenges of localities, higher education and K-12 education.

“COVITS is the pre-eminent gathering of Virginia's public and private sector IT leaders to share ideas that will make Government 2.0 a reality,” Governor Kaine said.  “I am proud to extend my congratulations to our winners of this year’s Governor’s Technology Awards as they pioneer some truly unique and innovative practices.”

The city of Richmond was recognized for "Innovative Use of Technology in Local Government," as a result of the citys partnership with York County, Virginia during the development of the External Alarm Interface Exchange. The pioneer technology project, which is the electronic transmission of critical data from alarm monitoring companies to public safety answering points, has become a new American national standard.

Honorees were determined independently by a judging panel of Virginia government IT professionals. Judges included representatives of state, local and educational government interests. See www.covtis.org for more information.