Distinguished Budget Presentation Award Program

GFOA established the Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program (Budget Awards Program) in 1984 to encourage and assist state and local governments to prepare budget documents of the very highest quality that reflect both the guidelines established by the National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting and the GFOA's best practices on budgeting and then to recognize individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal. Approximately 1,800 governments, including states, cities, counties, special districts, school districts, and more have been recognized for transparency in budgeting. To earn recognition, budget documents must meet program criteria and excel as a policy document, financial plan, operations guide, and communication tool.

Important Announcements

Beginning October 1, 2023, submissions to the Budget Award program will be processed in GFOA’s Awards Management System (AMS).
The criteria for the Budget Awards Program will be revised for budgets with the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2025, or later. Two different criteria location guides are now available on our website. One for budgets with a fiscal year beginning BEFORE January 1, 2025, and one for budgets with a fiscal year beginning ON or AFTER January 1, 2025. Please ensure you use the correct version. Sign up for our Free Budget Award Criteria Revisions webinar, taking place on October 3rd, to learn more about the criteria revisions.
If you receive the below error message when attempting to log into the AMS Forms page (and you have successfully logged in previously), please try clearing your browser's cache/cookies or use a new web browser AND use this link: https://lf.gfoa.org/Forms to resolve this issue. We recommend using Firefox or Chrome. If the issue persists, kindly use the Contact Us form for further assistance. Your patience is greatly appreciated!