Last year’s Municipal Achievement Awards covered everything from the development of the Cayce River Arts District to Bluffton’s Neighborhood Assistance Program, which helps residents stay in their homes in Bluffton’s historic communities. Once again, the time is nearly here for cities and towns to showcase the best of their projects for the 2024 awards.
The Municipal Achievement Awards provide a way to showcase a city or town’s hard-to-see projects — the kind that are undertaken by city and town governments to innovate and improve their operations and enhance their communities. In addition to recognizing excellence in local government, the awards help share ideas among municipal officials and staff.
Categories and requirements
The Municipal Association of SC accepts Achievement Award submissions each year in either a population category or one of five subject categories: communications, economic development, public safety, public service or public works.
Municipalities with a population of 20,000 or fewer, as counted in the 2020 census data, can choose to compete in either a population or subject category. Municipalities with a population greater than 20,000 can compete only in one of the five subject categories. Each city or town can only submit one entry and in one category.
Projects need to be substantially complete to be eligible and can be submitted only once more if they do not win. For help with brainstorming award submissions, cities can find information about past winners and the award application.
Applying
The submission deadline for the 2024 awards is February 7. Cities submitting in the subject categories must make an oral presentation at an assigned time on February 26 or 27. The Association will recognize award winners at the Annual Meeting on July 19 in Greenville.
For more information on the Achievement Awards, contact Meredith Houck at 803.933.1215 or mhouck@masc.sc.