4 Categories.
40 Winners.
12 Gold Awards.
GovTen honors the ten local and regional government agencies doing stellar work in each of our categories. The nominations are judged blind, against a published rubric, by public sector stalwarts and domain experts. No entry fee ever.
Four categories where local government work happens
Ten agencies in each category receive a GovTen Award. The three highest-scoring agencies in every category receive the Gold Award Trophy; the other seven receive the Winners Award Trophy.
Public Spaces & Recreation
Ten awards in this categoryParks, plazas, trails, waterfronts, libraries, recreation programming and the stewardship of land held in common.
What counts in this categoryMobility & Transportation
Ten awards in this categoryPublic transit, streets, active travel, freight, curb management, road safety, congestion reduction, transport simulations, and the movement of people who do not drive.
What counts in this categoryLocal Economic Growth
Ten awards in this categorySmall business, workforce, downtown recovery, programs and events, permitting reform, business improvement districts, commercial zones, industrial land and the local tax base.
What counts in this categoryCommunity Engagement
Ten awards in this categoryParticipation that changed a decision — budgeting, consultation, language access, service design and trust-building.
What counts in this categoryWinning criteria are published.
Scoring is transparent.
The evidence decides it
Every entry is scored against six published criteria, weighted, by two judges who cannot see whose work it is. Ambition without a measured result does not place.
The math is public
How were nominations scored, what was the scoring criteria? Published every cycle. A list is only worth something if you know how it was arrived at.
Nothing is for sale
No entry fee, no shortlist fee, no acceptance fee, no paid tier. Sponsors fund the trophies and the postage, and sponsors have no contact with the judging panels.
Four stages. Five months.
One annual announcement.
Nominate
One form, about fifteen minutes. Self-nomination is welcome and common. Third parties may nominate an agency, and we contact the agency before it is shortlisted. No fee.
Screening, then blind scoring
Staff check eligibility and evidence, then redact every identifying detail. Two judges per category score twenty entries each against a published rubric, without knowing whose work they are reading.
The Chair scores the top five
The independent Chair reads the leading five in each category as a third scorer, resolves ties, and signs the evidentiary file. Honorees are notified under embargo on Monday 15 February 2027.
Published, in full, in one hour
Forty honorees across four categories, announced in a sixty-minute online ceremony and published permanently with the reasoning. The funnel numbers go out the same day.
Sixty minutes. Forty winners. Online only.
No black tie, no table plan, no travel budget.
Announced online, free to attend, captioned and recorded. Four blocks — one per category — with every honoree named on screen and the Gold Award recipients given the floor.
Someone in your organization has done awesome 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.