What is the Volunteer Community of the Year Award?
The Volunteer Community of the Year Award is a yearly event to recognize Arkansas municipalities that address the community’s greatest needs through city-led citizen engagement initiatives. These may include Mayor’s Youth Councils, citizen committees, utilization of community-wide service initiatives, citizen advisory forums, and more. Volunteer initiatives must be driven by the municipality and not by area nonprofits.
The Arkansas Volunteer Community of the Year Awards, co-sponsored by the Governor’s Advisory Commission on National Service and Volunteerism (Engage Arkansas) and the Arkansas Municipal League, have honored over 130 Arkansas communities demonstrating exceptional citizen engagement by addressing critical local needs over the past 43 years. Whether through innovative projects, sustainable practices, resilience in the face of challenges, or meaningful youth engagement initiatives, these awards celebrate local government dedication to service and citizen engagement.
The award categories include:
- Best City (20,000 people or more)
- Best Mid-Sized Town (5-20,000 people)
- Best Small Town (5,000 people or less)
- Most Innovative Community
- Most Sustainable Community
- Most Resilient Community
- Most Youth Engagement
Winners receive two road signs for city borders, which designate them as a Volunteer Community of the Year for the specified year. The Arkansas Highway Commission donates the signs annually. In 2025, we’re thrilled to offer a civic engagement funding investment for the winners of the Best City, Best Mid-Sized Town, and Best Small Town to contribute to the municipality’s most needed volunteer projects.
The nomination period runs from August 22 to October 24, 2025.
Explore the resources and submit your nomination:
What criteria do judges use to select Volunteer Communities of the Year?
The Volunteer Community of the Year Awards (COY) honor communities that address their community’s greatest needs through impact-minded civic engagement activities led by municipalities. A sampling of the criteria used to select the winning communities is as follows:
- Is the application complete and are the necessary items included?
- Was the project developed and led by municipal staff (nonprofit partnerships will not be considered)?
- Did the project address a significant community need?
- Did the project engage volunteers in the community?
- Did the project have a significant impact on the community?
- Does the project have longevity and/or can it be adapted by other communities?
- For specialized categories, is the project innovative, sustainable, resilient, or focused on boosting youth engagement?
How to boost a Nomination
Communities that mobilize citizens to complete an annual community-wide service initiative that provide long-term support for the community’s infrastructure, operations, and/or quality of life. These community initiatives should seek to impact the areas of greatest need.
How do I nominate a community for the Community of the Year Award?
Nominations open from late-August to late-October 22 each year. Entries should follow the instructions outlined on the nomination form.
What are the nomination guidelines?
- Nomination statements should describe community-wide, city-led citizen engagement initiatives within a 12-month period from September 1 – August 31.
- The nomination deadline is October 24.
Why should I nominate a community for the COY Award?
- COY communities receive two road signs for the city’s borders, which designate them as a Volunteer Community of the Year for the specified year. The Arkansas Highway Commission donates the signs annually.
- These signs showcase your community as a healthy network of neighbors helping neighbors. This designation improves the local economy by attracting people to spend time – even live- within the Arkansas Volunteer Communities of the Year.
- COY communities and their citizen engagement programs receive City & Town magazine features published by the Arkansas Municipal League.
- The winning communities receive additional recognition and publicity for their civic engagement efforts. Many local newspapers, television, and radio stations, and other forms of media feature and honor the winning communities.
- In 2025, Engage Arkansas began offering civic engagement investment funds for the overall winners.
What is the history of the award?
Following the 1973 creation of the Arkansas ACTION Program, Arkansas went on to lead the nation in the field of volunteer engagement, creating the first Association of Volunteer Coordinators in 1974, hosting the first statewide volunteer conference, “Volunteer Directions,” in April of 1975, and presenting the first Arkansas Community Service Awards in 1978. This award paved the way for the Volunteer Community of the Year Award 1982. The 2022 award, recognized and celebrated in January 2023, marked its 40th anniversary.
2024 Award Recipients: Best City, Maumelle; Best Town, Keo; Most Innovative, Siloam Springs (City) and Leslie (Town); Most Sustainable, Fayetteville; Most Resilient, Calico Rock; Most Youth Engagement, Piggott.
2023 Award Recipients: Bentonville, Crossett, Fairfield Bay, Fayetteville, Keo, Maumelle, Van Buren
2022 Award Recipients: Bentonville, Etowah, Fayetteville, Lonoke, Mulberry, West Memphis
2021 Award Recipients: Fayetteville, Maumelle, North Little Rock, Osceola, Siloam Springs, Vilonia, West Memphis
2020 Award Recipients: All municipalities in the state were recognized for their outstanding response efforts amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
2019 Award Recipients: Alma, Eureka Springs, Fairfield Bay, Fayetteville, Greenbrier, Jonesboro, Osceola, Van Buren
2018 Award Recipients: Fairfield Bay, Greenbrier, Russellville, Van Buren
