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 2024 Awards 

Orange Section Awards.

IMPORTANT LINKS:

Each year, APA Orange Section recognizes and celebrates outstanding planning work throughout Orange County. The Planning Awards honors innovative plans and projects, distinguished individuals, and other contributions to the planning profession.


New this year!  In an exciting update, we are introducing a two-phase nomination process:

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  • Part One:  Aimed at those looking to compete in the Statewide awards competition, this phase invites nominations for projects, plans, programs, individuals, and teams that align with designated State awards categories. Submit your application now to be part of this prestigious opportunity.

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  • Part Two:  Stay tuned for the announcement of additional, unique awards categories that celebrate the diversity and distinctive qualities of planning excellence within the APA Orange Section. More details to come.

Call for Nominations.

We are now accepting nominations for the first phase of the APA Orange Section Planning Awards. Join us in highlighting the transformative power of planning by submitting your nominations by Friday, March 29, 2024. Our panel of esteemed planning professionals will review submissions, with award recipients celebrated at our annual awards event, tentatively scheduled for fall 2024.

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To learn more about the award eligibility requirements, CLICK HERE to download the Awards Program policies and nomination guidelines.

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All applications must be submitted via Dropbox and include all required application materials. Please read the instructions carefully so your nomination is properly filed. To view the submittal instructions, CLICK HERE to download the Awards Application Form.

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All documents must be uploaded to Dropbox using the correct naming convention: Dropbox Submittal Portal (DUE MARCH 29)

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Recipients of the first phase of APA Orange Section's call for nominations will be invited to proceed to the Statewide competition. Please note that in order to be eligible for a Chapter award, nominees must first submit an application to the Orange Section, and receive an award of excellence or merit at the Section level.

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For any questions on the 2024 Orange Section Planning Awards or nomination process, please contact us at director@oc-apa.org.

Become A Juror.

We are looking for diverse planning professionals to serve on our Awards jury! Juror tasks include reviewing all submitted award nominations, participating in jury deliberations to vote on the winning nominations, and attending the in-person Planning Awards scheduled in fall 2024. Jurors will participate in a jury deliberation meeting in early April.

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To become an Awards Juror, please email a short statement of interest to director@oc-apa.org.

Awards
Categories.

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APA Orange Section invites you to submit an awards nomination in the following categories:

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  • Academic

  • Advancing Diversity and Social Change

  • Best Practices

  • Communications Initiative

  • Comprehensive Planning: Large Jurisdiction (pop. >100,000)

  • Comprehensive Planning: Small Jurisdiction (pop. <100,000)

  • Distinguished Service

  • Distinguished Contribution

  • Economic Planning and Development

  • Emerging Planning and Design Firm

  • Grassroots Initiative

  • Hard-Won Victory

  • Implementation: Large Jurisdiction (pop. >100,000)

  • Implementation: Small Jurisdiction (pop. <100,000)

  • Innovation in Green Community Planning

  • Opportunity and Empowerment

  • Planning Advocate

  • Planning Agency (public sector)

  • Planning Firm (private sector)

  • Public Outreach

  • Transportation Planning

  • Urban Design

  • Making Great Communities Happen (Section-Only Award)

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Projects and programs that receive an award of excellence or merit in the categories listed above will be eligible to submit to the Chapter Awards when applications open later this spring. Chapter award applications are due between April 15 and May 15 every year.

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