Awards & Prizes

While Future City is first and foremost an educational engineering experience, there are also awesome prizes that teams can win! Teams that win their Regional Competition advance to Finals. Finals takes place each February in Washington, DC. Future City provides round trip transportation and hotel accommodations for each US team’s three student presenters, educator, and mentor. Teams competing at Finals have the opportunity to win the prizes below.

2020

45,000 participants

Award Name	Winner	Sponsor	Criteria
Best Use of Renewable Energy	Warwick Middle School, Pennsylvania (Central)	American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers	Innovative and efficient use of renewable resources in energy systems.
Best Use of Aerospace Technology in a Future City	Mill Middle School, New York (Western)	American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) National Capital Section (NCS)	Teams should develop a clear statement of the use and benefits of aviation and/or space technology in their projects. Projects can be on, in, or above the earth, in space or on other celestial bodies. Special consideration will be given to aviation and/or space technologies used in the displays.
Best Age-Friendly City	Columbia Secondary School, New York (City)	AARP	City that best exemplifies a great place to grow up and grow old. Incorporates age-friendly planning and design throughout city, such as walkable streets, housing and transportation options accessible to people of all ages, and opportunities to participate in community life.
Most Sustainable Food Production System	Lionville Middle School, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)	American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers	Design that provides the best sustainable food production system while conserving soil, water and energy.
Most Innovative Design of Infrastructure Systems	The Ellis School, Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh)	American Society of Civil Engineers	Design that accommodates the most innovative systems (e.g., transportation, water and wastewater) for a community.
Best Integration of Equity in Designing the Built Environment using Nature-Powered Solutions	Warwick Middle School, Pennsylvania (Central)	American Society of Landscape Architects	This award recognizes the power of nature, the power of design, and the thoughtful work of landscape architecture. Recipients will show how landscape architects apply design thinking to harness the power of natural resources to solve complex sustainable development challenges. Use your creativity to apply nature-based solutions to address real-world problems such as climate change, air and water pollution, and threats to biodiversity while using fewer resources.
#AQOLFA Award: Advancing Quality of Life for All	Batavia Middle School, Ohio	APWA	Design that best demonstrates advancing quality of life for all. Public works is advancing the quality of life for all every day through public services.
Best Futuristic City	Al-Hadi School of Accelerative Learning, Texas (Houston)	ASME	Use of futuristic engineering concepts into city's communications, energy, or transportation systems
Best Management of Water Resources	Batavia Middle School, Ohio	Bentley Systems, Inc.	Efficient design of water treatment and distribution for human consumption, agriculture, industry, recreation, and fire protection. Responsible sewage collection and treatment for environmental protection and community aesthetics. Innovative stormwater collection, treatment, reuse and/or discharge back into the environment.
Best Residential Zone	Langtree Charter Academy, North Carolina	Chinese Institute of Engineers-USA	Strategic placement of residential zones that allow maximum return for quality of life issues.
The City of the Future that Best Incorporates Cultural and Historical Resources	Richard H. O’Rourke Middle School, New York (Albany)	Cuban-American Association of Civil Engineers, Inc	The City whose design best incorporates historical & cultural sites, buildings, infrastructure and customs.
Most Advanced Smart Grid	St. Hugh Catholic School, Florida (South)	IEEE-USA	Best incorporation of Smart Grid technologies for the safe, efficient, and reliable delivery of electricity throughout the city. A Smart Grid is the modernization of the electric power system by applying advanced software tools, computer controls, automation and two-way communications. Benefits include improved reliability, lower energy bills, more energy choices (including renewables such as wind, hydro, and solar), and fewer and shorter power outages.
Excellence in Systems Integration	Gratton School, California (Northern)	Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers	Demonstration of excellence in the design of integrated systems of people, material, information equipment, and energy.
Best Transportation System for the Community	Maricopa Wells Middle School, Arizona	Institute of Transportation Engineers	Design that best incorporates advanced and futuristic technology in the city’s transportation modes. Incorporates strong connectivity among all networks of transportation, even in situations of disruption or emergency. Accounts for safety and coordination among multiple city agencies.
Professional Engineering Award	Academy for Science and Foreign Language, Alabama	National Society of Professional Engineers	In planning, design, building, and maintaining your city, please explain/give examples of steps you will undertake to: - Ensure your city’s engineers are competent professionals; - Comply with engineering safety codes and technical standards; and - Reject behavior that misleads or deceives the public.
Mission Possible: Positively Impacting the Community	St. Hugh Catholic School, Florida (South)	National Society of Black Engineers	This award is given to the team whose Future City design promotes the best overall quality of life and demonstrates the greatest potential to positively impact the community for a sustainable future.
Best Land Surveying Practices	Sequoyah Middle School, Oklahoma	NCEES	The design that employs the best land surveying practices, taking into consideration the high standards used by surveyors to help protect the public's safety and welfare.
Most Sustainable Environmental Practices	Justice Page Middle School, Minnesota	North American Association for Environmental Education	Citizens are educated about sustainability and citizens actively engage in and promote sustainable environmental practices.
Best Project Plan	Harding Middle School, Iowa	Project Management Institute Educational Foundation	Teams should be able to explain how they followed the project cycle when designing their future city. They should be able to clearly communicate their activities in each stage of the project cycle, including how they created their project schedule, assigned responsibilities, and monitored and controlled their work. Finally, teams should be able to explain what they learned during their project by answering the kinds of questions that they ask themselves during their team reflection.
Best Use of Fire Protection Engineering, Science & Technology	Edlin School, Mid-Atlantic	Society of Fire Protection Engineers	Fire protection engineers use science and technology to make our communities safe from fire. Fire protection engineering features may include structural fire resistance, detection and notification systems, suppression systems, egress systems, and smoke management systems. The fire protection engineer ensures that these features all work together to protect people, property, and the environment from fire.
Best Use of Innovative Construction Materials and Techniques	DiscoverSTEM, Texas (North)	Turner Construction Company	Use of innovative construction materials. Use of innovative construction techniques. Overall construction of design.
Excellence in Resilience Engineering	Southwest Middle School, Great Plains	UL	Demonstration of excellence in the city design of resilient systems that withstand and quickly adapt to adverse circumstances and events like natural disasters.
Best Virtual City Design	Norwell Middle School, Indiana	Electronic Arts, Inc.	This award is given to the team with the highest overall score as judged by the National Virtual City Judges.
Best City Essay	Southwest Middle School, Great Plains	Pentair Foundation	This award is given to the team with the overall highest City Essay score as judged by the Finals Judges.
Best City Model	Light of Learning, Idaho	Shell	This award is given to the team with the overall highest score as judged during the National Preliminary Judging of the Model.
People's Choice Award	Al-Hadi School of Accelerative Learning, Texas (Houston)	DiscoverE	This award is given to the team that is voted by their peers to have the best model. Voting is done by ballot during the Special Awards Judging.