LEADERSHIP AWARDS

Budd Chavooshian Award for Distinguished Career Achievement
For a professional planner whose sustained accomplishments, leadership, and contributions have made a lasting impact on planning in New Jersey. This is APA New Jersey’s premier career achievement honor.

Distinguished Civic Leadership Award
For an elected public official who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in advancing thoughtful growth, sound planning, and stronger communities. Eligible recipients include state legislators, county elected officials, mayors, councilmembers, elected commissioners, and other elected public officials.

Community Planning Champion Award
For an appointed official, volunteer, advocate, or community leader whose service and leadership have made an exceptional contribution to their community by elevating community voices, championing thoughtful planning, and turning community goals into action. This award is not intended for practicing professional planners.

Emerging Planner of the Year
For an outstanding professional planner age 35 or younger who has demonstrated exceptional achievement, leadership, and promise, with the potential to help shape the future of planning in New Jersey. Nominees must be 35 or younger as of the nomination deadline.

Stuart Meck Award for Distinguished Service
For an APA New Jersey member whose exceptional service, leadership, and commitment have made a lasting contribution to the Chapter, its members, and its mission.

PLANS, PROJECTS, DEVELOPMENTS & INITIATIVES

These awards recognize outstanding work that is transforming places, addressing challenges, creating opportunities, and improving communities throughout New Jersey.

Comprehensive Planning Award
For an outstanding plan that establishes a compelling vision and actionable framework for the future, including municipal, county, regional, neighborhood, strategic, campus, and other multidisciplinary plans.

Redevelopment & Revitalization Award
For transformative work that brings new investment, energy, and opportunity to an existing community or place, including redevelopment, adaptive reuse, brownfield transformation, mixed-use development, corridor revitalization, and public-private partnerships.

Housing & Community Development Award
For a plan, development, project, policy, program, or initiative that expands housing opportunities, strengthens neighborhoods, or advances community development, including affordable, mixed-income, and market-rate housing.

Transportation & Mobility Award
For a plan, project, investment, or initiative that improves how people move through and connect with communities, including transit, pedestrian and bicycle improvements, transportation safety, transit-oriented development, accessibility, infrastructure, parking, and mobility strategies.

Environmental Planning & Resilience Award
For a plan, project, development, or initiative that advances environmental stewardship, sustainability, resilience, or responsible management of natural resources, including climate adaptation, green infrastructure, stormwater, open space, restoration, energy, flood mitigation, and sustainable development.

Planning Implementation Award
For work that successfully transforms a vision into action, demonstrating meaningful implementation, tangible results, and positive community or statewide impact.

Community Engagement Award
For an initiative or process demonstrating an exceptional commitment to meaningful, creative, or inclusive engagement, with evidence that community participation influenced or strengthened the resulting work.

Planning Innovation Award
For a groundbreaking or highly creative approach to a planning, development, or public policy challenge through technology, data, design, policy, regulation, financing, partnerships, development practices, engagement, or other approaches.

James W. Hughes Award for Planning Research & Scholarship
For outstanding research, scholarship, or analysis that advances understanding of the forces shaping New Jersey’s communities and informs planning, development, public policy, investment, decision-making, or public understanding.

Student Planning Achievement Award
For exceptional, primarily student-produced work demonstrating creativity, thoughtful analysis, and a meaningful contribution to a planning or community development issue. Eligible work may include studio projects, research, plans, designs, policy analyses, and development concepts.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Eligible plans, projects, developments, initiatives, programs, research, and other work must have been published, adopted, implemented, or substantially completed within three years of the nomination deadline. A submission may be nominated in only one category. Self-nominations are welcome. Choose the category that most closely reflects your nomination; APA New Jersey may reassign a nomination when another category is more appropriate.

WHAT THE JURY WILL CONSIDER

The Awards Jury will consider the overall strength of each nomination, including its significance and impact, quality of achievement, leadership or innovation, and lasting value, in the context of the selected award category. Nominations will be reviewed by a diverse jury representing a range of professional backgrounds, expertise, and perspectives. Jurors will recuse themselves when a conflict of interest exists. The jury may elect not to make an award in a category or may recognize more than one recipient when warranted.

HELP US CELEBRATE THE BEST OF NEW JERSEY

Nomination Deadline: Friday, October 23, 2026

SUBMIT YOUR NOMINATION

Award recipients will be notified during the first week of November.

Questions? Contact Sheena Collum, Executive Director, at .