In one of life’s great ironies, it’s just come to my attention that Talent 2, the company behind Novopay, was the sponsor last year of an award for ‘public sector communications’.

The award itself was well-deserved: it went to the Department of Corrections for making prisons smokefree and the way they got staff and inmates on board. But how ironic that Novopay, which has barely fronted to the media – quite on top of producing a disastrous bit of software – should be sponsoring the award.

As the Institute of Public Administration awards website puts it: “The Talent 2 Award for Excellence in Public Sector Communications recognises the design and delivery of innovative public sector communications strategies that have significantly increased public awareness of a government objective. This may be a public information campaign, a public engagement strategy, or the communication of a specific initiative, change of policy, legislation or regulation, and may be in a variety of mediums.”

Well, Talent 2 have certainly increased public awareness of the importance of getting teachers paid in time, if not in the way the award envisaged.

In one of last year’s editions of the journal Public Sector, Talent 2’s general manager, Peter de Boer, says, “We look forward to some equally exciting nominations next year.”

Maybe they could nominate themselves?