Pierce County IT Award Archives

 2016 Awards

2016 Apex Award of Excellence: Digital Media Category
The Puget Sound Fresh App won an Apex Award for graphic design and overall communications excellence. Pierce County partnered with neighboring agencies, the University of Washington Tacoma and Seattle Tilth to create the app.  

2016 WAURISA GIS Person of the Year Award
Pierce County’s Chuck Buzzard was named “GIS Person of the Year” for his expertise and countless hours of volunteering.During his 20+ year career, Chuck has volunteered for critical leadership roles, including serving as WAURISA President, Conference Chair, and past Board member. 

2016 Employee Incentive and Recognition Standing Ovation Awards 
Staff from IT, the Auditor, and Budget and Finance won an Innovation Award for designing a Biometric Time Clock. The system allows Elections extra hires to quickly clock in using any finger, thereby saving Pierce County more than $10,000 a year.

 2015 Awards

2015 3CMA Savvy Award for Digital Interactive: Mobile Apps
The Puget Sound Fresh App won the first-place Savvy Award for best new mobile app. Pierce County partnered with neighboring agencies, the University of Washington Tacoma and Cascade Harvest Coalition to create the app. 


2015 URISA Exemplary Systems in Government (ESIG) Award
Pierce County won the top URISA award for creating the most advanced permitting system in the nation. Online permitting tools reduced the number of customer calls and visits by 20%, while reducing the average consultation time by nearly 80%. 


2015 Digital County Survey Top 10 Digital Leader
Pierce County made the list of Top Ten Digital Leaders among large counties (500,000 or more population). The annual survey recognizes leading examples of counties using technology to improve services and boost efficiencies.


2015 National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Award: Criminal Justice & Public Safety
Pierce County Emergency Management and Information Technology won an Award for the Child Abduction Lead Management System. Investigators can use the system to organize thousands of tips about a child’s possible location.

2015 NACo Achievement Award for Planning
Pierce County Planning and Land Services (PALS) and Information Technology received an award for the Mobile Permitting System. Mobile permitting allows department to conduct up to 70 more inspections a week – or 3,500 more per year!


2015 Employee Incentive and Recognition Standing Ovation Awards
Pierce County Sheriff, Emergency Management, and IT received the Partners in Service award for the Child Abduction Response Team (CART) program. Pierce County is one of only 21 certified agencies in the nation.

 2014 Awards

2014 Society of Technical Communications Merit Award 
The Society of Technical Communications (STC) presented the FirstToSee website with a Northwest merit award for excellence in graphic design, layout, and technical writing.

2014 Esri Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award 
Pierce County's Public Works Road Operations and Geographic Information Services teams received the award for creating a dynamic inspection program of storm drainage infrastructure. The system reduced annual maintenance costs by 24%.

2014 International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Technology & Innovation Award 
Pierce County has won a national award for using the latest Web technology to help locate abducted children. Investigators can use the system to quickly search and organize thousands of tips about a child’s possible location.

Grant Award: 2014 FEMA Port Security Grant Program
Pierce County received $225,000 to develop new features for the FirstToSee Emergency Support System, as well as to expand the system to other jurisdictions outside of Western Washington.

2014 NACo "Best of Category" Award for Court Administration and Management
Pierce County District Court was recognized for being one of the first courts in the Pacific Northwest – if not the country – to embrace live chat and online self-scheduling tools. Self-service tools lower county costs and improve access to justice.

2014 NACo Achievement Award for Emergency Management
Pierce County Emergency Management and IT received a NACo award for the FirstToSee emergency system. The FirstToSee system provides the public and responders new tools for quickly sharing information during a disaster.

2014 Apex Award of Excellence
The FirstToSee Website won an Apex Award of Excellence for outstanding graphic design and Web content. The site also received honors in the WordPress page sub-category. 

 2013 Awards

2013 Digital Government Achievement Award (Honorable Mention) 
Pierce County's mobile internship has been recognized for excellence in driving digital government. The internship program provides students with real-world experience in creating mobile apps for the public and county departments.

2013 National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Award for Emergency Management
Pierce County Emergency Management and Information Technology won an achievement award for the Damage Assessment mobile app. The app ensures accurate, real-time tracking of infrastructure damage during an emergency.

2013 NACo Achievement Award for County Administration and Management
The Pierce County Auditor's Office and IT won an achievement award for completing a major voter redistricting project in record time with 100 percent accuracy. The election team remapped 503 voting precincts in five weeks.

2013 Employee Incentive and Recognition Standing Ovation Awards 
Two IT staff members were recognized for building a partnership with local universities via the mobile internship program. IT and District Court employees received a second award for creating online chat and self-scheduling tools.  

 2012 Awards

2012 International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Global Technology & Innovation Award
Pierce County Emergency Management and Information Technology won a national and international award for the Damage Assessment mobile application. The app allows first responders to track property damage caused by a disaster.

2012 National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Awards 
Pierce County IT won an award in the Public Safety category for enhancements to the Legal Information Network System. IT and Planning and Land Services Department received a second award for creating online permitting tools. 

 2011 Awards

Grant Award: U.S. Department of the Interior USGS Pierce County LiDAR Update 
As a supplement to a previous ARRA grant awarded to Pierce County to update our LiDAR system, the USGS awarded Pierce County IT/GIS a grant for an additional $25,000 to increase the resolution for the Tacoma Fault and White River Fault systems.

 2010 Awards

ARRA Grant Award: U.S. Department of the Interior USGS Pierce County LiDAR 
Pierce County Geographic Information Services was awarded $355,575 to partially fund an update to Pierce County's Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system.

2010 International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Global Technology & Innovation Award
Pierce County won an international award for the Emergency Information Portal, which provides first responders and emergency management partners with a 'one-stop shop' of mapping, logistics, and crisis communication information.

2010 URISA Exemplary Systems in Government Distinguished System Award
Pierce County GIS received a Distinguished System Award in the Single Process Systems Category for their GIS Online Budget System through the URISA program.

 2009 Awards

Grant Award: National Criminal History Improvement Program 
The $179,000 grant was awarded to Pierce County as an intergovernmental agreement between Washington State Department of Information Services (DIS) and Pierce County. These funds were used to automate court orders.

Grant Award: EECBG Energy Efficient Storage Upgrade 
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) is a sub-recipient of Pierce County's total award of $4,376,400. With this funding, staff improved the energy efficiency of the county's storage technology.

 2008 Awards
2008 Washington Urban and Regional Information Systems Association Awards

  • Map Contest: 'How Green is Your Commute?' - 3rd place award 
  • Poster Contest: 'GIS is to Space as History is to Time' - Peoples Choice Award 
 2006 Awards

CIO 100 Award
Director Terry Hale and Pierce County Information Technology have been honored as recipients of the 19th annual CIO 100 award for innovative use of information technology.

 2004 Awards

2004 Washington Chapter of Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) Speaker Award
GIS Person of the Year was awarded to Linda Gerull, Pierce County GIS Manager. Linda received the award in recognition of her long-term commitment, excellent work and leadership in the field of GIS technology

 2003 Awards

2003 Washington Recreation and Parks Association Spotlight Award
Discover Parks won the award for best website. The GIS Department supported Parks and Recreation by creating park maps, images, and GIS files for the website.  

 2002 Awards

2002 The National Association of County Information Officers (NACIO) Awards
The GIS team won an 'Excellent' award for communicating results and coordinating regional technology with the GIS Bulletin. IT won an 'Superior' award in the Computer Media Category for the Pierce County Crisis Website.

2002 National Association of Counties (NACo) Awards
IT received an 'Achievement' award for developing Threat Response Strategies and Information Systems. The Washington Sheriff's Department and GIS team received a 'Special Achievement' award for the use of GIS Technology.