Honored as Best in the Nation, the website helps make government more transparent and accessible

Company Website: http://www.utah.gov
SALT LAKE CITY -- (Business Wire)

Today, Utah House Speaker Rebecca Lockhart and Senate President Wayne Niederhauser received the Online Democracy Award on behalf of the Utah Legislature. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) recognized the Utah legislative website, le.utah.gov, as Best in the Nation. The Online Democracy award is given each year to a legislature, legislative chamber or caucus whose website helps promote democracy in an exceptional way with user-friendly websites.

“Making government transparent and inclusive builds the nation quietly, but just as consequentially as volunteers registering new voters, pioneers charting the wilderness, or revolutionaries marching at Valley Forge,” said Niederhauser. “Online democracy is a giant leap in the evolution of local self-governance and human freedom.”

The contest judges called the Utah State Legislature website “an information powerhouse.” The legislature’s simple and intuitive website was recognized specifically for its: sophisticated layout and functionality of the legislative calendar, straightforward search capabilities, fully integrated audio and video, mobile-friendly version, special attention to accessibility, interesting features, and elements that encourages public feedback.

"Now more than ever, we need citizens involved in their state government,” said Lockhart. “We’ve worked hard to ensure that Utah’s legislative website makes government more transparent, more accountable, and more approachable.”

Utah previously won the Online Democracy Award in 2005. This year, the award was presented to Lockhart and Niederhauser at the NCSL Legislative Summit in Minneapolis.

To find out more information about Utah.Gov visit:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/UtahGov

Facebook: http://www.utah.gov/facebook/

RSS feeds: http://www.utah.gov/connect/feeds.html

Utah blogs: http://www.utah.gov/blogs/

About Utah.Gov

Utah.gov is the entry point to over 1000 online services and benefits over 2.7 million residents in the State of Utah. Utah.gov provides citizens and businesses with more convenient options for interacting with government. Through Utah.gov, citizens can find public meetings, renew their vehicle registration, buy a hunting and fishing license, register a business, find a transparent state budget, and much more. In 2012 alone, Utah.gov received an unprecedented 24 awards making it the nation’s most honored state website. Utah.gov is managed and operated through a public-private partnership between the state and Utah Interactive, the Salt Lake City-based official eGovernment partner for the state of Utah. Utah Interactive is part of eGovernment firm NIC’s family of companies.

About NIC

Founded in 1992, NIC (NASDAQ: EGOV) is the nation's leading provider of official government websites, online services, and secure payment processing solutions. The company's innovative eGovernment services help make government more accessible to everyone through technology. The family of NIC companies provides eGovernment solutions for more than 3,500 federal, state, and local agencies in the United States. Forbes has named NIC as one of the “100 Best Small Companies in America” five times, most recently ranked at No.11 (2013), and the company has been included three times on the Barron’s 400 Index. Additional information is available at http://www.egov.com.

Contacts:

Utah House of Representatives
Joe Pyrah, 801-903-0095
Chief Deputy of the House
joepyrah@le.utah.gov
or
Utah State Senate
Ric Cantrell, 801-538-1407
Chief of Staff
rcantrell@le.utah.gov
or
Utah Interactive
Sara Watts, 801-983-0275
General Manager
swatts@utahinteractive.org

Source: Utah.Gov