Nominate Your Town for the 6th Annual Strongest Towns Contest
Watertown, South Dakota, 2020’s Strongest Town winner. Image credit: Watertown Convention & Visitors Bureau. Photographer, Chad Copus (South Dakota Department of Tourism). Used by permission.
It’s that time again! For the sixth consecutive year, we are launching our Strongest Town contest to learn more about what makes your town or city great…and to perhaps name your community the world’s Strongest Town.
Every March, as the sporting world turns its attention to college basketball, we’re out looking for the truly great communities—from the crown jewels to the hidden gems, the big cities to the smallest towns. It’s the most positive bracket-based competition in the world. We think of it as “March Goodness.”
In this contest, towns and cities from around the world showcase their local businesses, citizen involvement, financial solvency and other features, based on the Strong Towns approach. This year, we’re also focusing on how communities have adapted to the challenges of the pandemic. Finalists will face off in a series of different rounds and get voted on by Strong Towns readers and members. By April 9, we'll have our winner.
Once it’s safe to gather in-person again, the winner will receive a visit from Strong Towns President Charles Marohn to celebrate the victory and share the Strong Towns message. We’ll also write an in-depth profile of your city that we will share with our worldwide audience.
We’re announcing the contest now to give you time to nominate your own community. You don’t have to be a local official to make a nomination...although you can be. We encourage team efforts.
Nominations are due by Sunday, March 7 at 11 p.m. Central.
Learn more about the contest rules, process, and timeline here, then nominate your community!
Pop-up shops in 2018’s Strongest Town Contest winner, Muskegon, Michigan.
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 Monday, March 15. Throughout the following weeks, we'll invite our members, readers and listeners to vote on match-ups between these towns, based on a mix of written submissions, photos, podcast interviews, and even a live webcast with the championship contenders. 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.
Worried that your town is too small, too distant or not strong enough to apply? Fear not! In previous years, we've had applicants from as far away as Wollongong, Australia, as big as San Francisco (pop. 884,363) and as small as Amesville, Ohio (pop. 154)
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.