NCACC issues call for entries in Outstanding County Program Awards contest

With 100 counties and 100 talented staffs in North Carolina, there are bound to be a lot of good ideas for ways to improve and expand services to citizens.

Approved by the NCACC Board of Directors in 1991, the Outstanding County Program Awards (OCPA) competition is designed to recognize the outstanding work being done by counties across the state, and also to share these ideas and innovations with other counties.

Now in its 19th year, the awards program honors counties and groups of counties (not individuals) for their support of excellence. Entries involving multi-jurisdictional collaboration are strongly encouraged to apply. Programs entered into the LGFCU Employee Productivity Award Program also may be submitted for the OCPA program, but the focus is more directly on innovation and multi-county collaboration and, while productivity is encouraged, it is not the major factor in determining winners.

Projects/programs must have been implemented between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2009. Applications must be postmarked, faxed or e-mailed to the Association by Friday, Feb. 26, 2010. Winning programs will be featured in an issue of CountyLines, and the winners will be honored during a meeting of their Board of Commissioners during National County Government Month, which will be held in April 2010.

For major criteria and detailed information, and to obtain an entry form, visit www.ncacc.org/awards/ocpa/about.html.

Judging teams made up of elected and appointed county officials review entries and select at least three winning programs in each of three categories: General Government, Human Services and Public Education/Participation.