The Community Excellence Award (CEA) is the League’s most prestigious community award. It is your opportunity to highlight local success stories and best practices, and to share innovative community programs or projects on a statewide platform.

Submissions are accepted based on the community wealth building principles. All submissions will be accepted online. Preliminary voting will be done by a small voting board. The top four projects selected will go on to compete at Convention, where they will present their projects on the main stage and market their projects at designated CEA finalist booths. Convention attendees will vote for their favorite project, with the project winning the most votes awarded the official Community Excellence Award during the closing general session.

Community Wealth Building Overview:
The League has spent the past year pulling together threads from our past work into the concept of building community wealth. This model balances economic prosperity, sense of place, natural assets, and cultural substance. It also considers the importance of the safety, health, and well-being of our residents, as well as the ongoing process of learning over time. This model takes into account the human experience in our Michigan communities. Every community has a different context – and we want to know what yours is doing to improve the human experience and build trust and belonging among your community members. Learn more here.

 

Rules for Submission

  • One (1) project per community may be submitted.
  • You must submit a 150-word description of your project, plus one or both of the following forms of online presentations:
    • Up to 4 photos of the project
    • PowerPoint of no more than 10 slides (PDF version)
  • Topic areas (based on Community Wealth Building) are:
    • Lifelong learning: The journey of education and training is recognized as spanning from young childhood through K-12 education and post-secondary pathways to ongoing opportunities for adult learners.
    • Public health: Quality of life disparities are recognized and addressed while services are focused on increasing health impacts and fostering the human experience in public life.
    • Arts and culture: Cultural identities, traditions and creative outputs are respected, celebrated and recognized as critical assets that build social fabric in a community.
    • Financial security: Municipalities, community institutions, families and individuals are fiscally healthy; economic systems ensure a community can be economically resilient and allow for the continued proliferation of prosperity.
    • Sustainability: Natural resources are managed to ensure long-term sustainability of, and harmony between, the built and natural environment and leverage their worth as public assets.
    • Infrastructure: The fundamental facilities and systems serving a county, city, or other area, including the services and facilities necessary for its economy to function.

 

Grading Rubric

Criteria

Poor - 1

Average - 2

Good - 3

Excellent - 4

Community Wealth Impact
(Based on the categories the chose)

Project does not engage residents or does not have a clear community impact.

Project helps engage with residents, but is not clear that it will “impact” the community

Project shows the potential for long lasting impact

Project has a clear and decisive impact on the community. It engages residents and demonstrates a clear long-lasting impact

Replicability
(How easy is this project for other communities to replicate?)

Confusing and difficult to replicate in another community

Project is “doable” in other communities, but other communities may need significant coaching to be able to understand and achieve impact

Project could be replicated in other communities, but may need some coaching to execute project in their community

Project is well thought out and clear in its impact and most other communities could replicate it with no or very minimal coaching

Creativity
(How creative or original is this project?)

Project does not bring any new ideas or ways of thinking to the community

Not the most creative project, but it is at least engaging for the community

Project is engaging and interesting. It will attract the community and residents to engage and/or participate, but may be lacking a bit

This project distinguishes itself from others. It is original in nature, innovative, and brings together the community and residents to engage and/or participate

Preliminary Voting

  • The preliminary voting will be done by a small voting board.

 

Top Four Selection Procedure

  • Projects submitted will be reviewed by external judge’s panel.
  • Projects will be evaluated in four areas: Community Wealth Impact, Replicability, and Creativity

 

Convention Presentation

  • Project teams invited to participate in the Welcoming General Session at Convention must present for no more than 7 minutes. Format of the presentation can be DVD/video, PowerPoint, and/or verbal. Peer voting for the winner will begin immediately following the general session, and the winner will be announced during the Closing General Session.

 

Convention Booths

  • The four finalists will be given a booth in the main traffic area. Each community is invited to bring items to pass out (no alcohol), signage, small activities for attendees to participate in, etc. Will have access to a power strip as well.

 

Convention Voting

  • Four finalists will be voted on by Convention attendees based off Welcoming Session presentation and convention booths