2012 Awards of Excellence Program

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 32nd Annual Conference in Sacramento, CA.
• 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 ad send out a press release about your success to your local media.
• Take something tangible to your leadership that shows you a 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 of Excellence Program 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 Event.

The Awards Announcement will be held at CALED's 32nd Annual Conference on March 21, 2012 in Sacramento, CA. 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.

Fees
Member: $175
Non-Member: $350

There will be one Grand Prize Winner and one Award of Excellence Winner in each category. Award of Merits are determined by the score of each application thereafter. The score is based on a total of 100 points. If an application scores below 50 points, no award will be considered. Awards are presented in the following three categories:

Economic Development Partnerships
This category honors development projects between the public and private sector that exemplify the spirit of partnership during 2011. 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 2011, or a major phase of a multi-year project must have been completed and functioning in 2011.

Congratulations to our 2011 Grand Prize Award Winner: City of Sand City, Water Supply Project

**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 2011. 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 you 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?
  

Congratulations to our 2011 Grand Prize Award Winner: Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation, Business Services Program

Economic Development Promotions
This category recognizes outstanding efforts and achievements in economic development advertising, marketing and promotion during 2011. 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.

Congratulations to our 2011 Grand Prize Winner: Greater Merced Chamber of Commerce, Buy Local Campaign

Prizes to be awarded in each category are:

• The Grand Prize Winner
  
• Awards of Excellence
• Awards of Merit
  

How to Apply

Deadline to submit an application is February 1, 2012 by 5 P.M. (PST). Late entries will not be accepted. There are no exceptions.

For questions about the Awards of Excellence Program, please contact Kristy Nong at 916-448-8252, ext. 13.