Supreme service: Acting Chief Executive Henry Tang and Secretary for the Civil Service Denise Yue officiate at the presentation ceremony of the Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme 2009.

Fifty nominations from 25 departments won prizes in eight categories in this year's Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme.

Officiating at today's prize presentation ceremony, Acting Chief Executive Henry Tang said the winners were selected from 141 entries submitted by 51 departments.

"The civil service should sustain its efforts in striving for excellence, embracing changes and facing new challenges in a proactive and pragmatic manner for the prosperity of Hong Kong."

Mr Tang cited two examples of exemplary service, which are the project of intercepting drains at Queen's Road Central and the Sichuan disaster relief operation last year.

The Housing Department received eight awards. It won the Internal Service Team Award for its mobile application system for housing management. The system enables staff working outdoors to update or check records of tenancy, penalty marks allotted to households, dog registrations, rent payment records or repair orders instantly. Households are no longer required to complete occupancy forms. It has also spared staff the trouble of collecting and printing copies.

The department's improvement measures for payment of wages to workers were awarded first-runner up in the General Public Service Team Award and the estate management marking scheme for the Regulatory/Enforcement Service Team Award.

The payment scheme has been effective in protecting workers' interests by stamping out wage arrears by contractors while the estate management scheme has greatly enhanced hygiene in public housing estates.

Secretary for the Civil Service Denise Yue said the importance of the scheme lies in the opportunity for civil servants to review successful quality service schemes, consolidate experiences and broaden perspectives to enhance public service.

A one-hour television special, featuring the winning departments and teams, and highlights of the presentation ceremony, will be broadcast on TVB Jade at 7.30pm and i-Cable Live News Channel at 11.30pm October 3. Short features will be broadcast on ATV Home at 11am and TVB Jade at 3.20pm every Sunday from October 4 to December 27.

Click here for the full list of award recipients.