Next Century Cities and the National League of Cities, in partnership with Google Fiber, are proud to announce the Digital Inclusion Leadership Awards, which recognize and celebrate outstanding leadership and  innovative approaches to bridging the digital divide. The awards program will include:

• Leader in Digital Inclusion Best Practices: this award will recognize existing programs with over a year of work in addressing the digital divide

• Most Promising New Plan: this award will recognize particularly promising new programs for ensuring digital inclusion in a community

Two winners in each category will be chosen on the basis of a program’s ability to provide training, access, and hardware to a diverse range of participants, at low cost, with proven results and community engagement. In addition, one program in each category will receive recognition for a particularly innovative approach. This is a non-monetary award to celebrate leadership and innovative thinking addressing the digital divide. Each award-winning city will receive two paid flights and hotel rooms for the National League of Cities Congress of Cities in Nashville, TN from November 4-7.

If you’d like to learn more about the Digital Inclusion Leadership Awards, or if you’d like to submit your program for consideration, you can find more at our Digital Inclusion Leadership Awards informational page, including submission forms. All submissions are due by September 23, 2015, and winners will be publicly announced at the National League of Cities’ Congress of Cities this November.