Announcing a New Competition: Who has the Strongest Town?
Many of you are beginning to think about putting together your brackets predicting who will win the NCAA Basketball Championship this March. But we’ve got something that might be even more exciting than that: This March, Strong Towns will be hosting a bracket-based contest to see who has the strongest town.
Does your town exemplify Strong Towns principles like incremental growth, financial solvency and a safe, accessible transportation system? Are you a Strong Citizen who wants your town to get the recognition it deserves for being just plain awesome? If so, we invite you to enter!
We will be judging towns based on the Strong Towns strength test, as well as general Strong Towns principles. We know that no one's town is perfect. This contest is about showcasing towns that are doing their best to be strong, that have the building blocks in place to be strong towns today and in the future.
Contest Guidelines
- To enter the contest, please fill out this form. It asks a series of short-answer questions related to the strength of your town’s transportation system, finance situation, community health and more.
- The deadline for submissions is March 4.
- If you are invited on to the next round, you will be asked to participate in another step of the application process. See Contest Schedule below for details.
- Anyone can create a submission for his or her town (meaning you don't have to be an elected official or some other official town representative). We encourage you to work with other residents in your town to put together your application. There is no limit on the number of collaborators.
- The first round will be judged by Strong Towns staff and board in order to determine the Sweet Sixteen. After that, it'll be up to our readers to vote for their favorites each week, and take us down to the championship round at the end of March.
- Winners will receive eternal fame and glory, plus signed copies of our upcoming book, Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Volume II, and a certificate proclaiming your town: The Strongest
- Strong Towns staff, regular contributors and board members are excluded from participating in this competition.
Contest Schedule
February 2: Contest opens
March 4: First round submissions due
Mar 14-17: Sweet Sixteen is notified, their answers are published and Strong Towns readers vote for the strongest.
Mar 18: Elite Eight are notified and 3-5 photos are requested of them, illustrating the strength of their town.
Mar 21-22: Elite Eight photos are published and Strong Towns readers vote for the strongest.
Mar 23-27: Final Four are notified and record podcasts with Chuck to talk about their town.
Mar 28-29: Final Four podcasts are published and Strong Towns readers vote for the strongest.
Mar 30: The Championship Round is announced and a live webinar takes place with the final two. Strong Towns readers vote for the strongest.
Mar 31: The winner is announced!
If you have any questions about this competition, please contact Rachel Quednau at quednau@strongtowns.org.