Awards and Recognitions

Ankeny – bringing it all together

Folks that have lived here for a long time are aware of the unique benefits of living in Ankeny. A special thanks to the employees dedicated to Producing results, taking Responsibility, acting with Integrity, Dedication and striving for Excellence. Here's what others are saying about Ankeny.

2012

•  3CMA Savvy Award for Social Media and Citizen Participation
•  KaBOOM! names Ankeny a 2012 Playful City USA community for sixth consecutive year.
•  GFOA Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for 10th consecutive year

2011

• 2011 Best Practices Award from the Iowa Municipalities Workers Compensation Association (IMWCA)
• Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan from the Iowa Chapter of the American Planning Association.
• 2011 Top 100 Best Places to Live from CNN and Money Magazine. This is the second time Ankeny has made the top 100 list.
• 2011 Environmental Leadership Award from The Freshwater Society at their 10th Annual Road Salt Symposium. Ankeny Public Works was recognized for improving efficiency, maintaining safety and significantly reducing the amount of environmental impacts caused by winter maintenance.
• KaBOOM! names Ankeny a 2011 Playful City USA community for a fifth consecutive year.
• The Government Finance Officers Association awarded the City of Ankeny with a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. The award is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting

2010

• 2010 Voice of the People Award for Transformation from ICMA and the National Research Center and 2010 Voice of the People Award for Excellence in two categories.
• Juggle.com awards Ankeny with it's Top Government Website award
• KaBOOM! names Ankeny a 2010 Playful City USA community for a fourth consecutive year.
• 2010 Urban Steward of the Year Award from Polk Soil & Water Conservation District.

2009

• 2009 Silver W3 Award by the International Academy of the Visual Arts for unique, creative, and cohesive web design.
• The August 2009 issue of Money magazine named Ankeny as one of the Top 100 Places to Live.
  2009 Environmental Stewardship Award from Metro Waste Authority (MWA) in recognition of Ankeny's red bottle campaign.

2008

• 2008 Best Practices Certification from IMWCA. Ankeny is the first city in Iowa to receive this award.
• 2008 Gold Winner of the MarCom Award, Honoring Excellence in Marketing & Communications, in recognition of the city's website.
• The August 2008 issue of Family Circle magazine named Ankeny as one of the Top 10 Best Towns for Families in the United States.
• ACERT selected for a 2008 Governor's Volunteer Award for citizen outreach in preparedness planning. 
• International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the National Research Center, Inc. (NRC): Awarded Ankeny a Voice of the People award in September 2008 for having city services that are highly rated by its residents.
• 2008 Web Marketing Association Award of Outstanding Website (WMA) – The WMA releases this award to set a high standard for Internet marketing and development of the best websites on the Internet. This award allows the Web Marketing Association to recognize work, like the City of Ankeny website, above and beyond the standard of excellence.

2007

• In 2007, the KaBOOM! Foundation designated Ankeny as one of 31 founding member cities of the Playful City USA initiative for its commitment to promoting play as essential to the healthy development of children. Ankeny received its second designation in 2008 for its commitment to play.
• Colorado Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects: 2007 Merit Award for Planning and Urban Design and Land Stewardship award for the Prairie Trail development stormwater guidelines.
• Association of Government Accountants: Awarded Ankeny a Certificate of Excellence three years in a row for excellence in service, efforts and accomplishments reporting.
• Government Finance Officers Association: Distinguished budget award eleven consecutive years.
• Iowa Sports Turf Managers Association: Field of the Year award two years in a row for the Prairie Ridge Sports Complex.
• Metro Waste Authority: Awarded Ankeny Sustainability Award for commitment to waste reduction, recycling and environmental stewardship.
• State of Iowa: Designated an Iowa Safe Community.