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Chapter Awards

APA Colorado recognizes outstanding projects, plans and people of the planning profession evey year. The Awards Committee opens the Call for Nominations in February/March and announces the award recipients at the APA Colorado State Conference in the fall. For all prior winners, visit our Previous Winners page. To learn more about the Awards Committee, visit their committee page.

2024 Award Nominations

  • March 11, 2024: Call for Nominations Opens
  • April 26, 2024: Call for Nominations Closes
  • May 25, 2024: Award Winners are Notified

General Submission Information

Please consider including the following information in your submission, which is to be submitted as a pdf.

  1. Summary of the Entry
  2. Award Criteria: Describe how the entry satisfies the award criteria.
  3. Letters of Support: Letters should illustrate broad community support for the nominated effort and can be addressed to "APA Colorado Awards Committee".
    1. Letters must be included in the nomination packet and are not to be mailed.
    2. Letters may not be written by the nominator of the submission, by the nominated individual, or by anyone who directly worked on the project (such as members of the project team, consultant team, or planning department staff or anyone that had daily interaction or oversight of the project).
    3. Client letters are acceptable.
  4. Digital Images: Images must be copyright-free with captions.
    1. Images should provide context and show the award nomination's positive or intended outcomes.
    2. Images should supplement what exists in the written summary and criteria sections.
    3. Each image must include a photo caption. Captions must be between 15 and 25 words each.
    4. Photo collages and PowerPoint presentations are not accepted.
  5. Optional Supplemental Materials
    1. Materials may include press clips, brochures, posters, design guidelines, fact sheets, etc. If your nomination is about a plan, be sure to include a copy of the plan.
    2. You may upload the document in your packet or provide a link to your document online.

Upload Your Nomination Here

Project Categories

ADVANCING DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE AWARD

This award recognizes one project that demonstrates achievement and commitment to expanding equity, diversity, and inclusion in planning within Colorado. For this award, diversity should be interpreted broadly, including age, race, disability, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, and/or veteran status.

ELIGIBILITY: Any planning agency, planning team or firm, community group, or local authority helping civic leaders and citizens play a meaningful role in creating communities that enrich people's lives may submit a nomination.

CRITERIA:

  1. Originality and innovation. Describe how your entry addresses a known community need, challenge, or issue and better positions the community for a stronger, more equitable future for those in society typically underserved. Identify any tools, resources, or skills that helped to advance the effort within the community.
  2. Methodology and Transferability. Explain the process, budget, and project timeline for the nominated effort. Identify how planning and/or planners were instrumental in this effort. Share how the community was involved implementation of the effort. Demonstrate how your effort can be applied in other communities and the methodology used to help advance the value of the planning profession in the field of EDI.
  3. Engagement. Address what steps have been taken to build momentum and public support for your entry. Share how community members were involved and how this furthers EDI in the community and planning process. Identify, if applicable, any unique strategic partnerships or funding sources that were used to help move the effort forward.
  4. Effectiveness and Results. What are the long-term outcomes generated on the lives of those affected? Convey the level of effectiveness your entry can have over time or be a catalyst to future efforts. Be explicit about how the results have made a difference in the lives of those in the community.

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AWARD

For a comprehensive or general plan that advances the science and art of planning. The award honors America's most famous planner, Daniel Burnham, for his contributions to the planning profession and a greater awareness of the benefits of good planning. The nominated effort helps advance communities toward a safe, stronger, and more equitable future.

ELIGIBILITY: Open to APA members and non-members. The award is given for group achievement and may be made to a planning agency, planning team or firm, community group, or local authority. There are no limits on the size of jurisdiction.

CRITERIA:
Originality and innovation. Document how your entry presents a visionary approach or innovative concept to address needs. Explain how the use of the planning process in this context broadened accepted planning principles within the context of the situation.

  1. Quality. Explain how your plan is state-of-the-art in terms of presentation and methodology. Identify what makes this plan different or stand out compared to other comprehensive plans.
  2. Engagement. Explain how various stakeholder interests were involved and the extent of that involvement. Competitive entries demonstrate a strong effort to solicit input from those who historically have been left out of the planning process. Show how the nominated plan obtained public and private support and helped to bring the community together over shared goals.
  3. Promotion of Planning. Clarify the role, significance, and participation of planners. Demonstrate the connection between the effort's success and increased awareness in the community of planners and planning. Explain how the nominated effort helped to elevate the value of planning within the community.
  4. Effectiveness and Results. State how your entry addressed the need or problem that prompted its initiation. Be explicit about how the results have made a difference in the lives of the people affected. Explain what steps have been taken to build momentum and public support for the development and implementation of the plan. State the positive or unintended outcomes. Convey the level of effectiveness your entry can have over time.

RESILIENCE, SUSTAINABILITY, AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN AWARD

This award recognizes a strategy that creates a more sustainable community, portrays a great example of “green” design and planning, and/or increases the ability of a community to recover from and adapt to shocks and stresses (economic impacts, natural disasters, human-caused disasters, climate change, etc.), resulting in it becoming stronger, more equitable, and better prepared for the future. Success should show depth in agency collaboration, innovative ideas, and achievement of project goals.

Examples: A comprehensive plan, climate adaptation plan, or other plan that addresses resilience in substantive and innovative ways; a program or project such as use of green infrastructure to protect a community from hazards and build resilience; community engagement that increases understanding of resilience and leads to action; public health efforts or economic development plans or initiatives that improve the overall human and fiscal health of the community, etc.​

ELIGIBILITY: Open to APA members and non-members. The award is given for group achievement and may be made to a planning agency, planning team or firm, community group, or local authority. There are no limits on the size of jurisdiction.

CRITERIA:

  1. Originality and innovation. Identify how the strategy builds upon best practices and identifies innovative approaches for addressing a community's specific needs or reducing its risks. How does the initiative improve recovery efforts of disasters or stresses (i.e., landslides result from excessive rains, public health emergencies create economic stress)?
  2. Engagement. Describe how the strategy used in the inclusive planning process engages diverse partners and stakeholders, and/or breaks down institutional or structural barriers to facilitate decision-making so all community members' voices are represented. What types of outreach were taken to build momentum and engage the community? Explain how planners helped facilitate outcomes that gained support for planning practices.
  3. Integration. Describe how the project integrates or augments existing planning efforts within the community, county, or region such as corresponding comprehensive or master plans or other related initiatives. Explain how the effort or initiative can be adapted or applied by other jurisdictions and supports the broader needs of the community and surrounding region.
  4. Economic Impacts. Describe how the project represents real results, leveraging multiple funding sources and partnerships to deliver co-benefits for diverse populations. How will the effort lessen the financial impact disasters or economic downturns can have on communities?
  5. Effectiveness and Results. Demonstrate how the initiative has strengthened the resiliency of the community. Identify what benchmarks were used to determine success and be explicit about how the results have made a difference in the lives of people affected. How has this initiative increased resident understanding and awareness about potential disasters, as well as the roles and responsibilities of individual community members, along with the community as a whole, in helping to mitigate the severity of potential disasters? How has this initiative positioned the community for a stronger, more resilient future?

PLANNING EXCELLENCE AWARD

This award recognizes how planning is essential to addressing desires, needs, or challenges within a community, county, region, or specific geographic location. This category emphasizes outcomes and demonstrates how planning helps to create stronger, more equitable communities. Most projects submitted could fall into this category and are frequently a combination of a project and process.

Examples: Affordable housing plan, comprehensive plan, growth management or design guidelines, applications of technology, fostering greater public engagement in planning processes, transportation plans or projects, and site/regional plans.  

ELIGIBILITY: Open to APA members and non-members. The award is given for group achievement and may be made to a planning agency, planning team or firm, community group, or local authority. There are no limits on the size of jurisdiction.

CRITERIA:

  1. Originality and innovation. Describe how your entry addresses a known community need or challenge, and better positions the community for a stronger, more equitable future for all. Identify any tools, resources, or skills that helped to advance the effort within the community. Demonstrate how this effort complements or builds upon existing planning efforts and supports the overall planning goals of the community. Explain how this effort also helps move the planning profession forward?
  2. Methodology and Transferability. Explain the process, budget, and project timeline for the nominated effort. Identify how planning and/or planners were instrumental in this effort. Demonstrate how your effort can be applied in other communities and the methodology used to help advance the value of planning.
  3. Engagement. Address what steps have been taken to build momentum and public support including how community members were involved, including those who historically have been underrepresented. Describe stakeholder involvement and any unique strategic partnerships or funding sources that were used to help move the effort forward, if applicable.
  4. Effectiveness and Results. Provide measurable results or how success will be tracked or evaluated. What are the long-term outcomes generated or expected from the effort? How has the project made a difference in the lives of those who live in the community or in a more equitable future?

PROJECTS WITH A SMALL BUDGET (UNDER $20,000 PLANNING BUDGET)

This award honors projects challenged with a small budget that serve as examples of creatively utilizing low-cost or free solutions to create valuable planning outcomes. This category is aimed at projects with small work budgets but displays excellent results that are difficult to judge compared to those projects with much higher budgets.

GROWING WATER SMART AWARD

This award, juried and presented by the Sonoran Institute and the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, a center of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, recognizes Colorado towns, cities, and counties that have made exceptional strides in integrating water conservation, efficiency, quality, or reuse into their land use plans or policies. Submissions in, but not limited to the following categories will be considered for this award: a plan that identifies aggressive goals and strategies to address water supply and demand projections; enactment of regulations that have had a measurable impact on reducing water demand; processes that have increased integration among land use planners and water providers that result in water-related improvements to development applications; community education and engagement activities resulting in increased action around water conservation, efficiency, and reuse; utilization of water-efficient technology; strategies to improve stormwater filtration and improve water quality and stream flows; and efforts to reduce reliance on non-renewable water sources.

Individual Recognition Categories

PLANNING LEADERSHIP

This category will celebrate a success story! It is for a planner, public official, or non-planner whose advocacy, leadership, and direct involvement elevated the planning profession. This award recognizes an individual who has triumphed in the face of adversity! This person overcame anything from harsh working conditions to little or no project funding, to turbulent public involvement and successfully completed a planning project. It is not intended that the resulting process or project be particularly innovative or have a great wow factor, but its very achievement is remarkable because of the context in which it was accomplished.

STUDENT/RECENT GRADUATE PROJECTS

Current or recent students of Colorado schools who have produced projects either individually or in a group that demonstrate outstanding work are considered in this category. Planning students and recent graduates are invited to submit team or individual planning projects. This could be a student project done in coursework or an internship.

What is eligible?

Any plan, project, program, tool, process, report or ordinance entered must have been published, implemented, or completed within three years of the date of submission. Published drafts of plans are not acceptable.

Any plan, project, program, tool, process, report or ordinance may only be entered in one award category per award year.

All plans, and planning efforts must be based in Colorado.

Who can nominate?

An individual may not nominate himself/herself (the individual) for an award. Anyone working on a plan or project may nominate that plan or project for an award.

Nominators may not be related by blood or marriage to any individual they wish to nominate.

Members of the APA CO Awards Committee, APA CO Board of Directors, and AICP Commission are not eligible to nominate or to receive individual awards, i.e., the Planning Leadership award.