For all of the difficult and complicated issues facing the federal government in the past year, the commitment to Serving Citizens shined through.

Nine civil servants (pictured above) were awarded the prestigious Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal from the Partnership for Public Service.

They were an impressive bunch.
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This is the last in a series of AOL Gov’s Best Of 2012
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Lynne Mofenson of the National Institutes of Health received the top award for her pivotal role in preventing the AIDS epidemic among children by developing ways to prevent mother-to-child transmission. Louis Milione of the Drug Enforcement Administration was honored for his high-stakes federal undercover investigation resulting in the arrest and conviction of the world’s most notorious arms trafficker.

There were unsung heroes in 2012, too.

Susan Brita blew the whistle on abuses within the General Services Administration, perhaps leading to a culture that’s more supportive of calling out wrongdoing in the name of upholding the true values of federal workers.

We’ve spotlighted numerous leaders throughout the federal workforce who accomplish great feats for their agencies every day.

Meanwhile, the needs and expectations of citizens have been dramatically altered by the anytime, anywhere nature of the digital age. How successfully citizens are served by government depends on understanding their roles and perspective. Empowering citizen-driven government through collaboration and service delivery will certainly continue into 2013.