MMA seeks entries for Municipal Innovation Award contest

Has your community recently launched an innovative new project that has transformed the delivery of services or helped solve a common problem facing cities and towns?

Could other municipalities benefit from your example?

If so, the MMA’s Municipal Innovation Award contest provides an opportunity to be recognized for your efforts during the MMA Annual Meeting & Trade Show in January 2024.

Each year, the MMA’s Kenneth Pickard Municipal Innovation Award recognizes municipalities that have developed unique and creative projects or programs to increase the effectiveness of local government. The award honors the work of Pickard, who served as the executive secretary of the Massachusetts League of Cities and Towns from 1969 to 1973.

Last year’s award winners used data analysis to limit firefighters’ exposure to PFAS, saved old-growth trees by using GPS mapping, and built an interactive map to update residents about building projects.

The contest is open to any city or town that is an MMA member, and municipalities have until Oct. 31 to apply.

To enter, municipal leaders need to download the nomination form and summary sheet. The community’s chief municipal official must sign the nomination form, and the summary sheet must include a project description; the names of the groups and individuals involved; project goals, strategies, and results; and funding structure.

Communities also have the opportunity to submit supplemental materials, if they feel those will help the judges better understand their project or program. Those materials could include photos, video links, brochures, maps and news articles.

One electronic copy of the application package should be emailed to dyi@mma.org.

The judges, selected by the MMA for their background in municipal issues, will assess entries according to the following criteria:
• Project originality or novelty
• Adaptability of project to other communities
• Cost effectiveness
• Efficiency or Productivity
• Improvement of a municipal service, administration or performance
• Consumer/community satisfaction

For more information, contact MMA Research and Project Assistant Daniel Yi at dyi@mma.org or 617-426-7272, ext. 125.