GovTen
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Four categories, ten honorees in each

The categories

Four fields where local and regional government carries the load. Each is judged on its own rubric by its own pair of judges, and each list is balanced across sizes of jurisdiction so small agencies are not competing on budget.

One entry, one category

Choose the category where the measured outcome sits, not the one that sounds closest. A trail that was built to move commuters belongs in Mobility; a trail built to open a waterfront belongs in Public Spaces. If judges disagree with your choice, we move the entry rather than penalise it — you will be told if that happens.

Ten honored · three receive the Gold Award

Public Spaces & Recreation

Parks, plazas, trails, waterfronts, libraries, recreation programming and the stewardship of land held in common.

What counts here

  • A park, plaza, trail, waterfront or public building that changed how a place is used
  • Recreation programming that reached people who were not being reached
  • Maintenance and stewardship done well enough to be worth copying
  • Land or facilities brought back into public use

What does not

  • A design competition with no built outcome
  • A single event or festival
  • A capital project not yet open to the public
Ten honored · three receive the Gold Award

Mobility & Transportation

Transit, streets, active travel, freight, curb management, road safety and the movement of people who do not drive.

What counts here

  • Transit service change with measured ridership or reliability effect
  • Street redesign with measured safety or mode-shift outcomes
  • Active travel networks, and the maintenance that keeps them usable
  • Curb, freight or parking management that resolved a real conflict
  • Fare policy, paratransit or on-demand service that improved access

What does not

  • Long-range plans without delivery
  • Procurement of vehicles as an end in itself
  • Pilots too short to have produced data
Ten honored · three receive the Gold Award

Local Economic Growth

Small business, workforce, downtown recovery, permitting reform, industrial land and the local tax base.

What counts here

  • Small business or workforce programmes with tracked outcomes
  • Permitting or licensing reform with measured time or cost reduction
  • Downtown or corridor recovery with occupancy, footfall or revenue evidence
  • Industrial land, utility or site readiness work that landed investment
  • Procurement policy that moved spend to local or under-represented suppliers

What does not

  • Marketing campaigns without economic outcomes
  • Incentive packages reported only as announced investment
  • Job figures that are projections rather than measurements
Ten honored · three receive the Gold Award

Community Engagement

Participation that changed a decision — budgeting, consultation, language access, service design and trust-building.

What counts here

  • Participation that demonstrably changed a decision, not just informed one
  • Participatory budgeting with real allocation authority
  • Language access and accessibility work that widened who could take part
  • Service redesign driven by residents rather than presented to them
  • Sustained trust-building with a community that had reason to distrust the agency

What does not

  • Consultation with no evidence it altered the outcome
  • Communications or PR campaigns
  • Surveys reported without any resulting change

Someone in your organisation has done work worth ten minutes of your time.

Nominations for the inaugural cycle close Wednesday 30 December 2026. There is no fee, and self-nomination is welcome — most good work is nominated by the people who did it.

Submit a nomination See how it is judged