Closing the knowledge gap, recognizing the silent successes of county officials

Key Takeaways

The 2026 NACo Achievement Awards are out. Eighteen categories. Hundreds of impactful county impacts from Weld County to Waukesha, Cumberland to Cuyahoga. 

Read the summaries and the passion, complexity and real-world impacts of county officials quietly grinding away jumps off the screen.

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See the 2026 NACo Achievement Award winners

That’s exactly why the awards are a great compliment to our new “We Are Counties” campaign.

“We Are Counties” exists to close a knowledge gap of the public, and our federal, state, tribal and municipal counterparts. 

The Achievement Awards give us the ingredients to share our daily work. Every winner is a story already written by the work itself. Yet it must be amplified and validated.

Look at what counties achieved this year. Fairfax County, Va, put drones in the sky to assist first responders — arriving first on scene in roughly seven of 10 calls, in under two minutes on average. 

Cuyahoga County, Ohio built a Taxpayer Assistance Program to keep cost-burdened seniors in their homes. 

Waukesha County, Wis. stood up a mutual-aid damage assessment team that helped residents secure nearly $20 million in FEMA assistance after last year’s devastating floods. 

Dakota County, Minn. turned library branches into public health hubs with naloxone kits, lactation support and mental health connections. All in a building people already trust.

Here’s the ask as part of NACo’s “We Are Counties” campaign: don’t just announce winners. Translate your programs into human impact stories. Demonstrate the return on investment of local taxpayers with the real-world impacts on real-world residents. Go beyond government lingo and insider talk.

In an era of declining public trust, we all share in the burning imperative to provide context to your decisions and investment of taxpayer dollars. In visiting my hometown in upstate New York, I’m always proud of the daily storytelling of Warren County, N.Y., with a population about 50,000. 

The county hired the former editor of its local newspaper as public affairs officer. He built a weekly e-newsletter that does more than list board agenda items. It engages residents. It outlines key decisions coming before the county board. It profiles county employees as neighbors, coaches and volunteers — not job titles. It tells the story of community.

The county also regularly publishes the county’s economic performance, revenues and expenses, and puts property and sales taxes into plain context. That’s not a communications tactic. That’s the whole mission of We Are Counties, running on a weekly cadence in one county.

Every county has this raw material. A taxpayer doesn’t care about “Best in Category.” A taxpayer cares that their tax dollar is improving their daily lives. A state legislator doesn’t care about an award plaque. A legislator cares that a county investment or action solved a problem the state was still studying. Again, our challenge is to demonstrate the return on each taxpayer dollar.

That’s the concept behind the awards themselves. Since 1970, the Achievement Awards have run on a simple, non-competitive premise: if the work is good, recognize it. No county competes against another for a trophy. Every county that clears the eligibility bar earns the credit. 

That’s a rare moment in American public life — recognition without a zero-sum fight for it.

It should be rarer still that we let these stories sit in a database. Achievement Award winners are ready-made case studies for every social media post, every legislative hearing testimony and every conversation with a member of Congress or state legislator who has a narrow view of counties. Again, we must also show taxpayers the self-interest value of each tax dollar.

We invent, adapt, and deliver — and now we have thousands of fresh examples to prove it.

So, here’s the ask: tell your county’s story. Tell it plainly. Share it consistently. Send it to your federal and state delegations. Engage your residents. Focus on restoring public trust in government.

The award already did the hard part — it found the story. “We Are Counties” is how we make sure it gets told.

Celebrating county innovation

For more than five decades, the NACo Achievement Awards program has recognized counties for innovative programs and creative solutions that improve the lives of their residents.

Miranda Morvay, ssnior operations manager for County Practices & Innovations at NACo, leads the Achievement Awards program. Since joining NACo in 2018, she has helped advance programs that support county innovation and excellence nationwide.

Morvay says she is especially passionate about the awards because they showcase the incredible work happening in counties across the country. Each year, she is inspired by the innovative programs counties develop to address local challenges — and by the opportunity to share those ideas so other communities can learn from them.

Looking ahead to 2027

Counties interested in applying for the 2027 Achievement Awards should expect the application period to open in the last week of January or first week of February 2027. The most current information will be available on NACo’s Achievement Awards webpage.

Prospective applicants can also explore previous winners through NACo’s Achievement Awards Database, which offers examples of the innovative work recognized in past years.

For now, Morvay is keeping her advice about the 2027 application process — and what winners will receive — close to the vest. Conversations about the program are underway, and some details could change before next year’s awards cycle.

One thing that is certain: the Achievement Awards have a long history. Started in 1970, the program will celebrate 57 years of recognizing county innovation in 2027.

For counties considering applying, Morvay recommends keeping an eye on NACo’s website for the latest information and taking some time to explore what other counties have accomplished. After all, the awards are not just about recognition — they are about sharing ideas that can make communities stronger.