Only 18 county programs in the entire nation earned Best in Category honors at the NACo Achievement Awards 2026 and two of them came from CEA member counties. The National Association of Counties announced this year’s winners on June 17, 2026. Since 1970, the awards have recognized outstanding county programs across 18 categories, from health and human services to emergency management. Most winning programs receive a standard Achievement Award. A single program in each category earns the Best in Category distinction.
This year, Frederick County, Maryland took top honors in Human Services, and Waukesha County, Wisconsin won Risk and Emergency Management. Both counties operate under an elected county executive, and both are CEA members. Their programs offer practical blueprints that counties of any size can adapt.
Why the NACo Achievement Awards 2026 Matter
The awards are non-competitive, which means any county program that meets the bar can win. That makes the Best in Category winners stand out even more. NACo names just one Best in Category winner in each of the 18 categories.
For county leaders, the winners list works like a curated catalog of ideas that already succeeded somewhere else. Every winning program comes with documented costs and measurable outcomes, backed by a county government willing to share what it learned.
Frederick County, MD: Narcan on More Than 50 Transit Buses
Frederick County earned Best in Category in Human Services for a program with a simple premise: put overdose-reversal medication where people already are.
On National Save a Life Day 2025, the county’s Division of Transit Services and Division of Fire and Rescue Services announced they had equipped more than 50 transit buses with Narcan (naloxone), with more to come. Bus operators and county buildings became part of the response network, rather than waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
The transit partnership is one piece of a coordinated countywide effort that includes:
- The Division of Fire and Rescue Services and the Health Department, which lead training and deployment
- The Division of Aging and Independence, which extends outreach to older residents
- The Division of Communications and Public Engagement, which amplifies awareness campaigns
The results speak clearly. Overdose deaths in Frederick County have decreased every year since 2022. The county credits its everyone-has-a-role approach, which aims to:
- Reduce avoidable 911 calls
- Connect residents with long-term support and services
- Expand access to treatment
What Other Counties Can Borrow
The program required no new department and no major capital spending. It connected existing divisions around a shared goal and used assets the county already owned. A county with a transit fleet, a fire division, and a health department has the raw ingredients to replicate it.
Waukesha County, WI: A Damage Assessment Team That Moved $19.5 Million
Waukesha County won Best in Category in Risk and Emergency Management for its Countywide Damage Assessment Team, a mutual-aid network that proved its worth when historic floods hit southeast Wisconsin in August 2025.
The concept addresses a common failure point in disaster recovery. Federal assistance depends on fast and consistent damage documentation. Most municipalities lack the trained staff to produce it at scale, right when they need it most.
Waukesha County solved the problem before the disaster arrived. The program includes:
- A shared Memorandum of Understanding that lets municipal staff deploy across jurisdictional boundaries
- Standardized assessment procedures so every report looks the same, no matter who wrote it
- A county-customized mobile damage assessment tool for field data collection
- Coordination, training, and quality control from the county’s Office of Emergency Management
When the August 2025 floods struck, the team completed nearly 700 vetted home damage assessments in just days. The county shared that data with local decision-makers and Wisconsin Emergency Management to support the state’s federal disaster declaration request. FEMA approved Individual Assistance for the region in September 2025, and Waukesha County’s documentation helped residents access approximately $19.5 million in FEMA Individual Assistance, according to the county’s award submission.
What Other Counties Can Borrow
The lesson is preparation over improvisation. Every element of the program, from the MOU to the mobile tool, existed before the first raindrop fell. Counties in any hazard zone can stand up a similar mutual-aid structure during calm years and activate it when disaster strikes.
Themes Across All 18 Best in Category Winners
The full 2026 winners list reveals where county innovation is heading. Three patterns stand out.
Opioid response has gone everywhere. Frederick County’s win was one of several honors tied to overdose prevention. Dakota County, Minnesota turned ten library locations into community health hubs that distributed more than 1,200 free naloxone kits in the first year. Chesterfield County, Virginia built a keep-it-forever recovery book collection in its libraries. New Hanover County, North Carolina launched an online directory that guided residents to verified treatment providers. Counties now treat opioid response as a duty shared across every department, from transit to libraries.
Disaster resilience is a year-round investment. Waukesha County’s team joined winners like Macomb County, Michigan, which became the first county agency in the nation to automate chlorine monitoring of treated sewer overflows, and Miami-Dade County, Florida, which restored a coastal park with sea level rise in mind.
Affordability programs target seniors. Cuyahoga County, Ohio won Financial Management honors for its Taxpayer Assistance Program, which pairs tax assistance with financial counseling to help older homeowners stay in their homes. National data shows 34 percent of older households are cost-burdened, so expect more counties to follow.
What County Executives Should Do Next
The 2026 winners share a pattern worth noting: executive-led counties keep appearing at the top of the awards list. A single accountable leader can align departments around one goal, whether that goal is Narcan in every county vehicle or a disaster team that crosses municipal lines.
County leaders who want recognition in 2027 should start now. Document program outcomes with hard numbers and track costs from day one. This year’s winners in the NACo awards database show exactly what a successful application looks like. Deadlines for the next cycle typically fall in early spring.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the NACo Achievement Awards? The National Association of Counties has presented the awards since 1970. They recognize innovative county government programs across 18 categories through a non-competitive application process. One program per category earns the Best in Category distinction.
Which CEA member counties won Best in Category in 2026? Frederick County, Maryland won Human Services for its countywide Narcan deployment, and Waukesha County, Wisconsin won Risk and Emergency Management for its Countywide Damage Assessment Team.
How can my county apply for a 2027 award? Applications open on the NACo website, with deadlines typically in early spring. Counties with fewer than 50,000 residents have qualified for free applications in recent cycles.
The Takeaway
The NACo Achievement Awards 2026 confirmed what CEA members demonstrate year after year: executive-led county government produces programs the rest of the nation studies. Frederick County showed how existing departments can unite to save lives, and Waukesha County showed how preparation converts directly into federal recovery dollars.
Explore the full winners list in the NACo awards database, and contact CEA to connect with the member counties behind these award-winning programs.