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CITY WEBSITE WINS 'SUNNY AWARD' FOR TRANSPARENCY  (Wed., March 14, 2012)—Mayor Peter Carlisle today announced that Sunshine Review, a national nonprofit group that promotes government transparency, has honored the City with a "Sunny Award" for maintaining one of the most transparent government websites in America. "Our commitment to transparency is serious and will continue," Carlisle said. "We're very pleased that the City team's continuing efforts to make government open, accessible and accountable have been recognized."  Of more than 6,000 state and local government websites ranked, only 214 earned a Sunny Award. The City's site, www.honolulu.gov, is "an example of transparency" that ranked high on the group's checklist, Sunshine Review said. Grading takes into account the proactive disclosure of information regarding budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, permits and zoning, audits, contracts, lobbying, public records, and taxes, as well as the ease of use and availability of information. "The Sunny Awards recognizes governments that are doing an exemplary job at proactively disclosing information to taxpayers," said Michael Barnhart, President of Sunshine Review. "There are so many organizations and associations that highlight what is wrong with government. We at Sunshine Review are proud to acknowledge those who are doing it right and setting a transparency standard that all governments can, and should, meet."   The Sunny Awards coincide with Sunshine Week, recognized March 11 through 17, 2012 by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and other groups that promote government transparency. A complete list of the 2012 Sunny Award recipients is available at http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/2012_Sunny_Awards   -30- Media contact: Louise Kim McCoy, Mayor's Office, 768-7798.