Contact:

Jessica Weirauch
Michigan Municipal League
[email protected]
 734-669-6311

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 13, 2026

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The City of Sterling Heights was announced as the 2026 winner of the Michigan Municipal League’s Community Excellence Award (CEA) on Friday, October 9, during the closing general session at this year’s Convention in Traverse City.  

The fourth-largest city in Michigan, Sterling Heights is located in Macomb County, about twenty miles north of Detroit. “Homegrown in Nelson Park” marks the first Metro Detroit community to win the CEA since the City of Rochester Hills in 2021. 

The project “was an enormous team effort,” said Mayor Pro Tem Liz Sierawski. “Our support staff did such a great job keeping us in line and keeping us ready to go, and it is so good that we were able to honor what we did for the community.” 

Located on the southwest side of the city, Nelson Park underwent a redevelopment project in 2024 and 2025 that transformed an underused acre into a community gathering space. The improvements include a butterfly conservatory and micro-forest as well as a community garden (a common request from city residents) with over one hundred garden beds and seating made from upcycled wind turbine blades. Additional details are available on the League’s People & Place Blog here. 

“This really has to go out for our residents,” said Councilmember Michael Radtke. “Without their financial support and their coming to meetings and discussing what projects they wanted, it wouldn’t have been possible. They are the ones who enable us to make our community better every day. This award is theirs because we are making Sterling Heights one of the best communities to live in in the state.” 

The CEA is the League’s highest community honor, and winners are determined by a vote of their local government official peers at Convention. Sterling Heights and the other three finalists (Berrien Springs, Buchanan and Rochester) presented their projects to Convention attendees on the main stage on Wednesday, October 7. Voting was available following the presentations Wednesday through the end of Convention activities Thursday evening. Plante Moran sponsors the CEA and assists with the voting process. 

“On behalf of the Michigan Municipal League, I’d like to offer my congratulations to the City of Sterling Heights,” said League Board of Trustees President Jennifer Antel, who also serves as mayor of Wayland. “What they have done to reimagine this section of Nelson Park is a true labor of love, reflecting a deep commitment to the residents of Sterling Heights. The Community Excellence Award has been an amazing force for generating civic energy and creative placemaking in Michigan’s communities.” 

The CEA was first awarded in 2007 and has since been the League’s most prestigious community award. The competition for the honor is affectionately referred to as “The Race for the Cup” because of the large trophy that is presented to the winner each year. The 2025 CEA winner was the City of Negaunee’s Downtown Enhancement Project; learn more in the League’s Review magazine here.  

The submission period for this year’s award was March 10–April 30. Twenty communities submitted projects this year, and preliminary voting to determine this year’s four finalists was done by a small voting board. The League thanks every community who participated.  

To view video footage of Sterling Heights accepting this year’s award, visit the League’s Facebook and Instagram profiles (@mmleague).  

For questions about the Community Excellence Award, visit cea.mml.org or contact the League’s Emily Kieliszewski, Assistant Director, Member Experience and Learning, at 517-908-0302 or [email protected].

Michigan Municipal League is dedicated to making Michigan’s communities better by thoughtfully innovating programs, energetically connecting ideas and people, actively serving members with resources and services and passionately inspiring positive change for Michigan’s greatest centers of potential: its communities. The League advocates on behalf of its member communities in Lansing, Washington, D.C. and the courts; provides educational opportunities for elected and appointed municipal officials and assists municipal leaders in administering services to their communities through League programs and services. Learn more at mml.org. 

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