AWARD DETERMINATION

After a deadline the League staff process information provided by a community as follows:

• Point criteria are automatically applied to most data submitted by an applicant. These criteria determine the majority of each community’s category scores.
• League staff retrieves census data on the number of estimated bicycle commuters and the percentage of commuters who bike to work.
• Certain data is separated and run through separate point formulas. This is done where our criteria depends upon some relative measure that is produced by comparing different data provided by a community or census data.
• Data is checked for inconsistencies and adjusted if necessary.

Starting in 2016, the League implemented a public input process to provide the opportunity for additional public input on communities. As part of this process the following actions are taken:

• An optional public survey link is sent to all communities to be distributed by the community. This link is also sent to any bicycle and pedestrian advocates that a community identified and provided contact information for in its application.
• The League of American Bicyclists sends an additional survey that provides space for open-ended responses to bicycle and pedestrian advocates that a community identified and provided contact information for and bicycle and pedestrian advocates who are organizational members of the League. 
• These surveys are typically distributed within 2 weeks of the closing of a deadline and are open for about a month.

Award decisions are made based upon:

• Points assigned to the data by formulas;
• Personal review of each application by League staff and external reviewers, including supplemental materials;
• Comparisons to similar communities in our award database, particularly based upon the Building Blocks of a Bicycle Friendly Community and characteristics such as population and type of community; and
• If necessary, review of public and advocate surveys or direct outreach to local advocates.