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Tuesday, March 7, 2017

2017 Beautification Award Judging Announced

2017 Beautification Judging Standards


The City of Madison Beautification and Tree Board (MBTB) has released revised Judging Guidelines along with the application deadline and judging date.

Board Vice President for Beautification,  Amber Braman leads this year's Beautification Award program. Braman and the MBTB  revised the judging criteria this year to communicate more effectively what constitutes an "Award Winning" property in the City of Madison.

Because of the changes, existing property owners should review the revised judging criteria for 2017.

This year there has been a lot of work put towards the continued improvements of our judging standards, with an emphasis on judging of Commercial properties separately from Residential.

The improvements on the 2017 Beautification Award Judging Standard were to better define and add to what we are looking for in commercial and residential properties. 

Judges will also be able to give better constructive feedback in order to help guide applicants to improve on existing landscapes and to work towards achieving excellence scoring. 

 All properties should continue to exemplify the beauty of our community by showing prideful effort and enhancing their landscape to have an overall inviting curb appeal through colorful, healthy annuals and perennials. Any weeds or diseased plants should be addressed prior to the day of judging. Properties should be diligent in removing all dead plants and trees that may have suffered from last year’s drought.  

The Board also recognizes that there are areas under road construction. We would like to encourage properties on those routes to apply despite the construction.

Excellence scoring is achieved by having ‘yes’ answered to all of the conditions itemized in the standards which will reward a perfect score of 100. Any standards judged with a ‘no’ will not receive partial points deduction as in years prior; rather, 1 or 2 points deducted per question. Passing scores range from 95-100 points. Honor Roll recipients are properties receiving a 95 or better for five consecutive years.  A Failing score is  94 or fewer points. All properties should read the updated standards and evaluate how to best plan for their replacement spring plantings.
  
Applicants may find our updated Judging Standards at http://www.keepmadisonbeautiful.org/. Applicants are welcome to contact the Beautification Board with questions regarding the new standards at keepmadisonbeautiful@gmail.com. Deadline for application submission is May 4th. Application fee is $25. 

 All applications and fees must be postmarked by May 4th to be eligible for judging.

If paying by check, please mail application payments to:
Madison Beautification & Tree Board
100 Hughes Road
Madison, AL 35758

The scheduled date for property judging is set for May 18th, rain or shine.

Following the judging, the Madison Beautification and Tree Board will  host the 2017 Awards Banquet for properties scoring 95 or better on the 22nd of  June. A location has not been fixed, but each property receiving a Beautification award will be allowed two complimentary tickets to the event. 

Our goal is to release the new Beautification signs, to help distinguish the City of Madison from the surrounding cities, at this Awards Banquet.