National Innovation Showcase.
Recognizing & showcasing innovations and best practices from around the country.
The Districts Awards Program recognizes and shares bright ideas across transit, transportation, libraries, fire districts, parks and recreation, airports, ports and more! Submissions will be featured online and in our monthly Districts Newsletter. Submit now! At the end of the year, we’ll recognize the top 10 submissions as our 2022 Innovation Award Winners (submit by September 20th) and announce our top award winner as the District of the Year.
Don’t miss this opportunity to share your accomplishments and put your district in the spotlight. Simply click on the “submit” button below to send us a detailed description of your project or innovation for consideration.
For any questions regarding the awards program or submission process please contact Janet Grenslitt.
This category recognizes districts that have utilized tech to improve service delivery to citizens – for example, making physical services available online, deploying new citizen engagement solutions, enhancing user experience, et al.
This category recognizes district leaders who have led innovative tech initiatives. The nomination should highlight vision, leadership and the use of information technology.
This category recognizes districts that have utilized tech to improve internal operations with employees – for example reengineering business processes, enhancing security measures, et al.
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Online renewals improve convenience for constituents and reduce staff workload. -
Users can submit air quality complaints, with photos, directly from a smartphone
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New site delivers thousands of free water-saving devices to residents.
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New collaboration portal for docents offers new features and flexibility
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Central Contra Costa Sanitary District in California marks its 75th anniversary by launching immersive, multimedia site.
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Over the past year, SEPTA has conducted extensive outreach to current and potential transit users to make the transit system more convenient and useful to residents.
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The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) provides public transportation — including subway, commuter rail, bus, paratransit and ferry service — in the greater Boston Area. Last year, MBTA launched an easy-to-use online application for its Youth Pass program, which provides half-price fares to young riders with low income.
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The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen) — which manages more than 65,000 acres of public land in the San Francisco Bay Area — launched a suite of interactive mapping applications to make its redistricting process more transparent to residents.
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The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, which serves nearly 700,000 people in the city of Detroit, upgraded its customer portal to enable city residents to conduct all water department business online.
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Wastewater surveillance data can show virus trends faster than community testing
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Commissioner Jeanne Moeller has embraced innovative technologies.
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The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal utility in the United States, serving four million residents and businesses in Los Angeles and surrounding communities. LADWP recently launched an interactive, multi-format IT leadership training program to upskill employees for future leadership positions within the department.
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The Soquel Creek Water District (SqCWD) in Santa Cruz County, California, is using innovative technologies to ensure a sustainable water supply for more than 40,000 residents on the state’s central coast.
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Automated workflow increases transparency and efficiency
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Web-based system replaces radios and paper spreadsheets.
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The new technology replaces outdated physical desk phones to support hybrid work.
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The automated service answers common questions 24/7 and has cut IT tickets by 30%.
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Automated analysis of thermal imaging helps the district rapidly spot problems in its solar farms.
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The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) — the largest supplier of treated water in the U.S. — used innovative Agile project management techniques to comply with new regulatory requirements in its Water Quality Laboratory.
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The Palmdale Water District (PWD) is a retail water provider serving the city of Palmdale and other areas in northern Los Angeles County. The district deployed a mobile GIS application to replace paper notes used by maintenance crews.
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JCSD uses geographic information system (GIS) software to predict leaks and potential replacement costs for polyethylene water service lines used during the construction of some Eastvale housing developments several decades ago.
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GLWA recently developed a Water Quality Monitoring Dashboard that aggregates water quality data from collection devices on the Detroit River, including information from real-time monitoring buoy deployed last year near one of the authority’s water treatment plant intakes.
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To improve communication and share information between two separate but related agencies, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) worked with the New York State (NYS) Canal Corp. to launch a digital community of practice (CoP), a virtual communication hub for people with a common interest in the state’s canal system.
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