myHIV wins Guardian Public Service Award

On the 22nd of November we were delighted to be invited to accept our trophy at the awards ceremony in London's Mayfair.

People living with HIV have been involved in myHIV from the very start. We believe that the award is a testament to your engagement with the site. Without you, the users of myHIV, the site would not have achieved this accolade. So a great big thankyou to you.

About the awards

Since their inception eight years ago, the Guardian Public Services Awards have set out to showcase innovation and best practice across Whitehall, local government, the NHS and beyond. Many remarkable projects have been honoured and much invaluable learning has been disseminated. Now, more than ever, we need to keep up the pace.

The awards, run in partnership with Hays, are for all organisations involved in commissioning or delivering public services, whether they sit in the public, private or voluntary sectors. As past winners attest, the awards are recognised widely as the gold standard of achievement by public services teams.

The Customer service category

Our category, sponsored by the software company Oracle, is described as follows:

`These days everybody claims to be customer-focused. But saying it and being it are very different things. Who is really in touch with what users of services want and need? Who is "walking the talk"?'

The judging criteria

We were judged in the following areas:

• Has the project delivered lasting improvement in its area of focus?
• Have the leaders of the project provided the structure and vision for it to succeed once management time and funding have moved to other areas?
• Is the work pioneering?
• Could it be replicated in other areas of our public services?

Sir Nick's message

`We'd like to thank the Guardian, Hays, Oracle, and the Elton John AIDS Foundation, whose funding made the project possible. Let's hope it's the first award of many.'

Sir Nick Partridge, CEO Terrence Higgins Trust