Building better municipalities together.
Learn About Cama Membership
Building better municipalities together.
CAMA AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE PROGRAM
Excellence in Municipal Administration. Each year CAMA recognizes the value of excellence and professionalism in municipal administration through the Annual Awards Program in four areas of Program Excellence.
Awards are presented to local governments and their chief administrators in recognition of their creative and successful programs, projects or services.
PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF ANNUAL AWARDS PROGRAM
The Annual Awards Program has been designed to encourage excellence in professional municipal administration. The Program Excellence Awards recognize the achievements of local governments and their chief administrators in the development and implementation of successful programs, projects or services. Success stories are circulated widely to provide CAMA members and other local government managers with new ideas that may prove useful for implementation in their milieu.
Form of Awards
Program Excellence Awards recipients will receive a plaque at the Annual Awards Program Luncheon held during CAMA's Annual Conference. Press releases are prepared by the CAMA National Office for all award winning submissions and circulated to the local media. The CAMA Board member closest to the successful community will also attend a Council meeting (in person or virtually) to make the award presentation to the Mayor and Municipal Councillors. Award winners will also be asked to submit a high resolution logo and fifteen to twenty photos of the project to be included in a professional video that will be shown at the Awards Celebration being held on May 27, 2026 at the Annual Conference being held at the Whistler Conference Centre in Whistler, British Columbia.
Awards Evaluation Committee
The Awards Evaluation Committee evaluates the nominations submitted to CAMA’s Annual Awards Program and selects the recipients of the Program Excellence Awards. Each year the Board names a new Chair and strives to ensure that the rotation of the Chair reflects the various regions of Canada. The Chair is responsible for recruiting between three and five additional committee members with an interest in excellence in municipal administration. Committee members may be current or past members of CAMA.
ANNUAL AWARDS CATEGORIES AND ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Because Canada has a unique mixture of small and large communities, awards are granted according to population in three categories: for municipalities with a population under 20,000, for municipalities with a population between 20,001 and 100,000, and for those over 100,000. Three awards are granted in each of the following categories of Inspiring Workplace, Environmental Leadership and Sustainability and Innovation for a total of nine awards (awarded by population).
Municipal Inspiring Workplace Award
The CAMA Municipal Inspiring Workplace Award recognizes a forward thinking and people first employer/member municipality that has demonstrated leadership in creating an inspiring and positive work environment for its employees that enhances employee engagement, job satisfaction, and overall well-being. Recipients will embrace progressive human resources practices, building a resilient organization including such things as promoting diversity, equity and inclusion; supporting and encouraging work-life balance; fostering a culture of training and professional development; providing fair compensation and benefits; and investing in talent for long-term success. Having strong leadership that exemplifies a clear vision and values which guides the municipal government’s actions and policies is also important.
Nominations should demonstrate a commitment to the above-noted values and practices and include examples of how this has been embedded into the organization's culture.
Environmental Leadership and Sustainability Award
The Environmental Leadership and Sustainability Award recognizes the dedication to environmental and sustainability excellence in projects that meet the needs of the present without compromising the future. This may include stand-out projects or initiatives or apply to the improvement of corporate processes that demonstrate real benefits to the environment. Sustainability may refer to both environmental considerations and wider sustainability impacts on people, resources, and communities.
Willis Award for Innovation
The Willis Award for Innovation, awarded in recognition of Jack Willis for his contribution to the CAMA, recognizes programs, projects or services that demonstrate new approaches to leading, facilitating, or administering which result in positive changes to local government processes and practices, and ultimately bringing outstanding benefits to the organization and the community.
Evaluation Considerations for all four award categories:
Nominators for the awards may wish to take into account the following evaluation criteria (used by the Evaluation Committee) when making a submission:
- the extent that the program, project or service involves innovation, creativity and exemplifies a significant change;
- its impact on the profession of municipal administration;
- the potential a program, project or service possesses to enhance the practices of administrators elsewhere and the degree of their transferability to other local governments;
- the impact of the program, project or service on the municipality and on the organization even if the innovation itself was not new to the profession;
- the sustainability of the results, their long lasting, positive, measurable effects on the success of the organization or milieu.
CAMA is not obligated to choose a winner in each category.
CAMA Collaboration Award of Excellence
Unlike the other award categories, the Collaboration Award of Excellence is not based on a municipality's population. Two awards are available: one for municipalities partners with other municipalities and the other for municipalities partnering with external organizations.
Description of Award
The Collaboration Award of Excellence recognizes an exemplary partnership of an innovative, collaborative initiative where the outcome has demonstrated mutual benefits to all partners. This collaboration must result in one or more of the following outcomes: a significant improvement in service to both partners; developed new or improved processes and improved the quality of life for residents.
This award recognizes the contribution among a CAMA member municipality with other municipalities/communities or with external organizations. This team effort may have been through an informal agreement or a more formal legal structure. Nominations from both urban and rural municipalities are encouraged and should focus on the project and its implementation, not on individual's qualities.
Eligibility
To be eligible for consideration, nominated projects must involve collaboration and shared responsibility outlined in the following two categories:
- Award for the Collaboration of Municipalities. A CAMA member municipality partnering with one or more municipalities that are also CAMA members or non-CAMA members or a combination of both.
- Award for Collaboration with External Organizations. A CAMA member municipality partnering with an external organization which could include another level of government or governmental entity, post-secondary educational institutions, universities, hospitals or non-profit agencies (or a combination of any of the above noted external organizations).
Not Eligible: Partnerships with private sector companies are not eligible to be nominated for this award.
Nominator: Please note that at least one member of the team or work group must be a CAMA member and submit the nomination.
Evaluation Criteria: In addition to the evaluation criteria noted above, the focus of this award is on the exceptional outcomes produced through the work of a team or work group. For the purpose of this award effective teamwork and collaboration is viewed as, but not limited to:
- Promotion of overall engagement and/or cooperation; and
- Working together to achieve a common goal; and
- Overall impact and quality of the final product.
- Demonstrated evidence that all partners have contributed to the project.
CAMA is not obligated to choose a winner in this category.
PROGRAM EXCELLENCE AWARDS ELIGIBILITY
All municipalities with staff members who hold a membership in CAMA during the year in which the municipality’s program, project or service are nominated are eligible for consideration for the Program Excellence Awards.
Please note that municipalities must select one award category per project when submitting nominations. Projects should be submitted under the category that best aligns with their objectives and outcomes. Submitting the same project to multiple categories is no longer permitted.
PROGAM EXCELLENCE NOMINATION PROCESS
Who Can Nominate? Nominations may be made by CAMA Members or Mayors of member municipalities.
A fee of $100 (plus 5% GST) for municipalities with a population over 20,000, or a fee of $50 (plus 5% GST) for municipalities with a population under 20,000, is payable to CAMA for each nomination submitted. Payment must be made by credit card on-line when submitting your nomination.
The 2027 Awards of Excellence process will launch in November 2026, with submissions due by Friday, February 5, 2027 at 4:30 p.m. PST.
QUESTIONS?
