APA Arizona Chapter Awards

APA Arizona's Awards Program is the stage for showcasing great achievements and outstanding contributors to planning in Arizona

Recognizing our strengths as leaders of forward looking and lasting change enables us to meet future challenges and anticipate opportunities within our planning profession.  Each year, the American Planning Association, Arizona Chapter recognizes outstanding efforts in planning and planning leadership. This acknowledgment inspires quality and innovation in the planning profession and builds awareness of the field's importance to cultivating thriving communities. Nominating exemplary work or an outstanding individual is a revered opportunity to honor planning excellence and noteworthy contributions to the planning profession. State award recipients are eligible to enter national level competition.

Download the Awards Brochure Here

Submit Your Nomination Here

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2024 APA Arizona Planning Award Winners

2023 APA Arizona Planning Award Winners

2022 APA Arizona Planning Award Winners

2021 APA Arizona Planning Award Winners

2020 APA Arizona Planning Award Winners

2019 APA Arizona Planning Award Winners

2018 APA Arizona Planning Award Winners

Award categories include: 

Great Public Places Arizona:  Planning is behind the places communities value most. This category serves to recognize streets and public spaces that make communities stronger and bring people together through good planning. A Great Place demonstrates the importance of planning, provides an opportunity for promotion and tourism, and illustrates how local policies strengthen our communities. Entries should describe the planning story, and why it is worthy of a Great Places designation. This category is intended for plans that have been implemented and celebrate the results.

Planning Excellence:  This award acknowledges innovation, originality, new methods, deeper engagement, and effective results. This category is an opportunity for the nominee to make the case for what was innovative and groundbreaking for their context, what positively influenced our communities. This category demonstrates how planning great communities should be recognized for the quality of their built environment, care and sensitive treatment of the natural environment, and attention to the creation of equitable and sustainable communities and economies. Breaking barriers is different in every location based on the history, culture, and built environment of the context planners work in. Eligible submittals should describe the status quo, draw a contrast between previous work and the groundbreaking work, describe the impact the groundbreaking work made in the organization, people, and/or place.

Examples: Affordable housing plan, growth management or design guidelines, applications of technology, fostering greater public engagement in planning processes, transportation options, or efforts that create a sense of place.

Strengthening Communities: Resilience & Sustainability:  This award acknowledges plans that strengthen existing communities from within. A plan with a foundation of sustainable metrics, environmental justice, historic preservation, revitalization/reuse, infill, historic preservation, or an operating program. This category recognizes strategy that creates a more sustainable community and/or increases the ability of a community to recover from and adapt to shocks and stresses (economic impacts, natural disasters, human-caused disasters, climate change, etc.), resulting in it becoming stronger, more equitable, and better prepared for the future. Eligible submittals should identify innovative approaches for addressing a community's specific needs or reducing its risks. Describe what steps were taken to build momentum and support for your entry. Explain how planners helped facilitate outcomes that gained support for planning practices. Demonstrate how the initiative has strengthened the resiliency of the community. Identify what benchmarks were used to determine success and be explicit about how the results have made a difference in the lives of people affected.

Examples: A comprehensive plan, climate adaptation plan, or other plan that addresses resilience in substantive and innovative ways; a program or project such as use of green infrastructure to protect a community from hazards and build resilience; community engagement that increases understanding of resilience and leads to action; public health efforts or economic development plans or initiatives that improve the overall human and fiscal health of the community, etc.

Regional or General or Comprehensive Plan:
(Jurisdiction population 50,000 and over)
(Jurisdiction population 49,999 or less)

A REGIONAL PLAN is a collaborative plan, project, or study by two or more organizations creating a coordinated effort across jurisdictional boundaries to improve something such as air quality, travel, economic growth, and land-use compatibility.

Examples include: joint county/city planning, private/public and public/public partnerships, multi-agency processes.

Any Regional or General or Comprehensive Plan or plan update prepared with applicable Arizona statutes and adopted and ratified by the jurisdiction for which it was prepared. reduction programs.

Student Planning Project:  Any distinctive student plan, project, ordinance, regulation, or program showing exceptional quality may be submitted. Entries may be for any area of planning (i.e. general plan, transportation plan, specific area plan, master plan, historic plan, design guidelines, policy document, public outreach, etc.) and will be evaluated in accordance with the submission and eligibility requirements delineated in this application. Work submitted by a student, student group, or their educational institution must be entered in the Student Planning category. While there will be one overall student project winner, the Committee may select additional student projects submitted for a Certificate of Exceptional Work.

Distinguished Contributors to Arizona Planning

Distinguished Citizen Planner : An individual advancing or promoting the cause of planning in the public arena. This includes commissioners, boards of zoning appeals members, economic development boards, or other appointed officials.

Distinguished Professional Planner : An individual making sustained contributions to the profession through distinguished practice, teaching, or writing. 

Distinguished Public Official : An individual elected or appointed to public office contributing significantly to planning. 

Distinguished Planning Pioneer : An individual making significant contributions to the planning profession for more than 25 years.