At Greenbuild in Phoenix in November, the USGBC awarded seven local chapters with Annual Awards of Excellence in recognition of providing local green building outreach and education and in fostering best practices among the green building community. Sponsored by USGBC national member Milliken & Company, awards were granted four categories: Advocacy & Influence; Community; Education; and Organizational Excellence. And the awards review panels included a cross section of USGBC leadership including chapter leaders and staff, national staff, and members of USGBC’s Board of Directors and Chapter Steering Committee.

The Cincinnati Regional Chapter earned the Award of Excellence in the Advocacy & Influence category for a small chapter for its efforts in fostering a relationship with the Cincinnati mayor, who then signed on to the Mayors’ Alliance for Green Schools and helped move the toward implementing legislation requiring LEED Silver Certification—plus 30 percent energy efficiency—for any state-funded project.

In the Community category, the Chicago Chapter won in the large chapter award for its work on the Urban Open/New Horizons Community Garden project, a collaboration of local high school students, community members, and volunteers on the design and construction of a sustainable facility in Chicago’s East Garfield Park. Vermont Green Building Network (VGBN) won in the small chapter award for the launch of a Web site involving the Vermont Green Home Alliance, which provides a resource to share information on various residential rating systems. And the St. Louis Chapter received an honorable mention for its Growing Green Awards.

In the Education category, the James River Green Building Council in central Virginia received the large chapter award for creating and implementing educational green building programs. The South Carolina Chapter won the small chapter award for developing educational programs that allowed each of the chapter’s four branches to provide LEED and green-building learning and community-building at a grassroots level. The Chicago Chapter earned an honorable mention for elevating the level of its educational content with data critical to measuring the performance of green buildings.

In the Organizational Excellence large chapter category the Delaware Valley Green Building Council (DVGBC) won for increasing organizational efficiency, transparency, and communication; developing a plan to advance program and advocacy goals; and investing in a new Web site. And the Georgia Chapter won the small chapter award for merging the Atlanta and Savannah chapters into one organization focused on green building market transformation across the entire state.

For more information on the winners, visit www.usgbc.org/chapters.