The Award's Process is Now Paperless...
All Entries Must be Submitted Online!
The
Awards of Excellence Program
The Awards of Excellence program brings statewide public and professional
recognition to those projects and programs developed during the previous
year that have made significant contributions to the field of economic
development.
Why
Apply
CALED's Awards of Excellence are premier
statewide awards that honor, celebrate and recognize successful economic
development programs, projects and partnerships.
Reasons to apply:
Get recognized in front of
your peers at CALED's Annual Conference
Share your success with your community
by having CALED's professional staff or leaders present your award
at a local event
Have a reason to brag and send out
a press release about your success to your local media
Take something tangible to your leadership
that shows you are on the cutting-edge of economic development
Create value and pride in your economic
development efforts by showing off your award
Help other communities by sharing what worked for you
Receive statewide recognition by being included in
CALED's Economic Development Bulletin and
on our web site
Awards
Details
CALED invites members to participate in highlighting their achievements
and sharing their success stories. Each year we seek nominations meeting
the specific and overall criteria in each award category. Your participation
could allow you to be show cased in your community and region. CALED
will happily present major award winners their awards at a local/regional
event as well as at the Annual Conference.
The awards ceremony is always held immediately following the general
membership luncheon at the CALED Annual Conference. At that time, each
Award of Merit and Award of Excellence winner will be honored, and the
Grand Prize winners in each category will be formally announced. All
award-winning projects will receive statewide recognition at the Annual
Conference, in the CALED Bulletin, and on
the CALED web site.
Awards are presented in the following three categories:
Development Partnerships
This category honors development projects between the public and private
sector that exemplify the spirit of partnership. Some examples from
previous years include redevelopment projects, office/retail complex
projects, and downtown improvement projects.
Entries in this category will be judged on criteria such as:
Was there something innovative and creative involved in this
project?
What was the significant impact on employment, expansion of
the local tax base and diversification of the area’s economy?
Did you effectively leverage private investment?
To be eligible, projects must have completed
construction during 2007, or a major phase of a multi-year project
must have
been completed and functioning in 2006.
**Both the public and private sector partners sponsoring the
project will receive a separate award if they are CALED members.
If one of the partners is not a member, they can purchase a duplicate
copy of the award.
Economic Development
Programs
This category recognizes outstanding and innovative programs which
have made a significant contribution to the field of economic development
during 2006. These are programs that manage resources to influence
or carry out economic development policy in a progressive, timely
and/or cost effective manner. Some examples from previous years include
export trade programs, business finance programs, and an innovative
city economic development strategy.
Entries in this category will be judged on criteria such as:
Can your project be replicated in other communities?
How effectively/efficiently did you manage resources?
What was the significant impact
on employment, expansion of the local tax base and diversification
of the area’s economy?
To be eligible, programs must show tangible evidence
of measurable success with a minimum of one year of actual implementation.
For example, a course developed for harvesting entrepreneurs may measure
its success by growth in attendance.
Economic Development Promotions
This category recognizes outstanding efforts and achievements in economic
development advertising, marketing and promotion. The emphasis is
on effective public relations and comprehensive ongoing business development
campaigns that utilize special web sites, print or broadcast media,
collateral material, video or personal contact efforts.
Entries in this category will be judged on criteria such as:
How effective was the promotion?
Was it innovative/creative?
Why is this promotion on the cutting edge of our industry?
Please remember, although your promotional tools
such as novelty items w/logos, DVDs, CDs, etc. are important, you
will be judged by the answers you provide to the questions
and not necessarily by these items. For example, a movie that tells
the story of your community does not tell us how you used it, why
it was effective, or why it is on the cutting edge of our industry.
