Past Award Winners
2026
2nd Place: Dam Good Tours: Placemaking and Storytelling at Flood Protection Dams
Miami Conservancy District
Miami, OH
Miami Conservancy District, Dam Good ToursFor more than a century, the Miami Conservancy District's dry dams have protected southwest Ohio by doing nothing at all most of the year, which is precisely ...
2nd Place Large Population: City and County of Denver: 2025 Storm Drainage Master Plan
City and County of Denver
Denver, CO
2nd PlaceCity and County of Denver, 2025 Storm Drainage Master PlanDenver's municipal code requires a storm drainage master plan every five years, and the city could have satisfied that with a static ...
1st Place Small Population: City of Cedar Rapids: Cedar Rapids Flood Control System
City of Cedar Rapids
Cedar, Iowa
City of Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids Flood Control System: 12th Avenue Pump Station and Riverside Park ImprovementsCedar Rapids needed to move stormwater from a 1.85-square-mile watershed over its flood...
1st Place Large Population: City of Portland: Springwater Restoration Project
City of Portland
Portland, OR
1st PlaceCity of Portland, Springwater Wetlands Restoration ProjectJohnson Creek has flooded more than forty times in the last sixty years, and for a century agencies tried to armor their way out of i...
2nd Place Small Population: Opti and Howard County, MD: The Troy Hill Smart Stormwater Project
Howard County, MD
Howard County, MD
Opti and Howard County, Maryland, Troy Hill Smart Stormwater ProjectThree dry ponds built in the 1990s served a 150-acre drainage area at a fully built-out business park, and expanding them was neithe...
2nd Place: No-No Ball Campaign
Clark County Regional Flood Control District
Clark County, NV
Clark County Regional Flood Control District, No-No Ball CampaignIn a market crowded with water agencies competing for attention, the Clark County Regional Flood Control District made its message impo...
1st Place tie: 2026 Severe Weather Preparedness Week Campaign
Charlotte Mecklenburg Stormwater Services
Charlotte Mecklenburg, NC
1st Place (tie)Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services, 2026 Severe Weather Preparedness Week CampaignCharlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services reached roughly 60 percent of Charlotte's population...
1st Place tie: Be Flood Ready
King County Flood Control District
King County, Washington
1st Place (tie)King County Flood Control District, Be Flood Ready CampaignThe King County Flood Control District rebuilt its Be Flood Ready campaign around a simple premise: infrastructure alone canno...
1st Place Water Quality Category: Stormwater Sidewalk Mural Project
Charlotte Mecklenburg Stormwater Services
Charlotte Mecklenburg, NC
1st PlaceCharlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services, Stormwater Sidewalk Mural ProjectCharlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services turned a sidewalk outside one of the city's busiest transit centers int...
2025
Special Recognition: Louisiana Watershed Initiative: Louisiana DOTD
Louisiana DOTD
The Louisiana Watershed Initiative is a comprehensive, state-led effort aimed at reducing flood risk and enhancing resilience. Established after the floods of 2016, the initiative coordinates funding,...
1st Place: McLoud Run Flood Mitigation Project
City of Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
The McLoud Run project demonstrates how flood protection can enhance communities through habitat restoration, recreation, and environmental stewardship. This multi-benefit project transformed a flood-...
Special Recognition: Houston Stormwater Master Plan
City of Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston's comprehensive stormwater planning effort received special recognition for its scale, innovation, and commitment to community-centered flood solutions. The Stormwater Master Plan represents o...
1st Place: That Dam Game!
Yuba Water Agency/GEI Consultants, Inc.
Yuba Water Agency partnered with GEI Consultants Inc., and with guidance from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to pioneer an innovative approach to address the challenges of climate change on water manag...
2nd Place: Valley Water: Be Flood Safe Campaign
Valley Water
Santa Clara County, California
Valley Water in Santa Clara county, California recognizes that extreme weather is our new normal, b/c of that VW works year around on capital improvement projects to reduce the risk of flooding. They ...