Nominate your city for our 3rd Annual Strongest Town Contest!
We're thrilled to announce the beginning of the 3rd Annual Strongest Town Contest. Every year, while the rest of the country is going crazy about their NCAA basketball brackets, we're over here getting pumped about the bracket that will determine the strongest town in the world — with help from you.
It starts with nominations. To nominate your town, simply fill out this short application. You don't need to be an elected official or member of your local chamber of commerce or anything like that; you just need to be able to talk about what makes your community great (though we encourage you to gather some fellow residents and make it a team effort.) Applications are due by 11pm CT on February 25, 2018.
Read our full contest rules and see additional deadlines here.
Once we've received your applications, Strong Towns staff and board members will review them and select the best 16 to compete in the initial bracket, which kicks off on March 5. Throughout the month of March, we'll invite our members, readers and listeners to vote on match-ups between these towns based on a variety of assessment tools including podcast interviews, photos and essays — so if your town makes it into additional rounds of the contest, you'll be asked to submit additional materials. We recommend taking a close look at the contest schedule so you know what to anticipate in future rounds.
Throughout the month of March, Strong Towns members and readers will vote for their pick for 2018's Strongest Town. The winning town will receive a visit from Strong Towns President, Chuck Marohn, to celebrate the victory and share the Strong Towns message.
Worried that your town is too small, too distant or not strong enough to apply? Fear not! In the past two years of this contest, we've had applicants from as far away as Wollongong, Australia, as big as San Francisco and as small as Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Don't let your desire for perfection prevent you from entering this contest either. Our focus is on finding the town that is doing its best to become strong. We know that no town is perfect. Show us the best that your town has to offer, and what you're doing to become even stronger.
Get more information and nominate your town here.
May the best town win!