Awards

Congratulations to the Esri award winners

Explore the awards and recipients honored at the 2024 Esri User Conference.

President’s Award

This year's recipient

United States Agency for International Development GeoCenter


About the award

The President's Award is personally chosen by Esri president and founder Jack Dangermond. It is the highest honor given to an organization, for it recognizes one that uses data-driven decision-making to impact the world in a positive way. Past recipients include smaller organizations that create answers for their communities through resource allocation, larger organizations that build systems to reach millions of people in times of need, and groups that protect and conserve our natural environment—all through the use of GIS.

Making a Difference Award

This year's recipients

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency



About the award

The Making a Difference Award honors organizations and individuals who use GIS to positively impact their communities. Selected by Jack Dangermond and Esri leadership, the Making a Difference Award acknowledges the exceptional use of GIS in contributing to a better world. Past recipients for the Making a Difference Award include nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); nonprofit organizations; local, regional, and national governments; and educators and thought leaders.

Enterprise GIS Award

This year's recipient

City of Raleigh


About the award

The Enterprise GIS Award recognizes organizations that have achieved greater efficiency, improved collaboration and transparency, and increased engagement from both internal and external stakeholders. Selected by Jack Dangermond and Esri leadership, the Enterprise GIS Award honors those who have excelled in their implementation of an enterprise-wide GIS. Past recipients of the Enterprise GIS Award include city, state, and regional governments and international organizations that have effectively deployed an enterprise solution to achieve results across their geography.

Special Achievement in GIS Awards

About the award

Esri users are nominated by Esri leadership and distributor organizations, with finalists selected by Jack Dangermond. These organizations set new standards throughout the GIS community.

The Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Awards were announced during this year's Plenary Session on July 15, 2024.


Review the winners

About the awards

The Map Gallery is central to Esri UC because it's one of the most extensive and comprehensive collections of GIS work globally. It serves as an indicator of trends and shifts in technical and cartographic practice. Each year, our users' work inspires, moves, and challenges us to innovate and try new things. The most visually stunning maps are selected as winners in each category. These maps exemplify cartographic excellence.

The winners will be announced on Friday, July 19, at the close of the conference.

Young Scholars Award

This year's recipients

Young Scholars award recipients
Winner's name Country/Region
Glenn Kong Australia
Alysha van Duynhoven Canada
Zhang Chen Hong Kong
Diana Marcela Mendoza Collazos Colombia
Finn Jakob Strunk Germany
Melani Anahí Ambi Morales Ecuador
Boddepalli Navjoth India
Naura Fadiya Hanan Indonesia
Paolo Storelli Italy
Takumi Sugahara Japan
Dohyuk Im Korea
Nour Khairallah Lebanon
Syed Ahmad Fadhli Bin Syed Abdul Rahman Malaysia
Sayfeddine Khatem Netherlands
Wendy Requena Panama
Ewa Babula Poland
Miguel Miranda Torres Pires Portugal
Stefan Valeriu Borode Romania
Farhad Baagiel Saudi Arabia
Shannon Fisher South Africa
Nilay Tellioğlu Turkey
Rachel Cribben United Kingdom
August Sawmann Nyygaard Denmark
Raminta Povilaitytė Lithuania
Aleksei Kupavõh Estonia
Maryam Khan Pakistan
Michael Kumaglo Ghana
Okikiri Favour Oghenekobiro Nigeria
Gabriela Reséndiz-Colorado Mexico

About the award

Esri continually works to develop the next generation of GIS leaders. The Young Scholars Award program allows Esri, our international distributors, and the international education team to recognize the exemplary work of current undergraduate and graduate students majoring in geospatial science disciplines at international universities. Winning entries come from all over the world and are selected by a university panel formed by Esri distributors in the recipient’s respective country.

Esri Innovation Program Student of the Year Award

This year's recipient

Cathryn Hunt

MGIS, Penn State University

Learn about the recipient

About the award

The Esri Innovation Program (EIP) confers special status and benefits on select university programs with demonstrated excellence in geospatial research and education. These programs challenge students to develop innovative applications based on the ArcGIS system and related elements of the geospatial technology ecosystem.

2023 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition

About the award

Esri and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) cohosted the 2023 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition, which invited storytellers worldwide to create place-based stories about conserving the earth’s lands and waters.

Storytellers submitted entries through one of two tracks. Each track offered a category for students enrolled in a college, university, or other institution of higher education.

Track 1

An ArcGIS StoryMaps story or collection about an Indigenous or community-led conservation project.

Track 2

A place-based research project, scientific study, or scholarly article built with ArcGIS StoryMaps.

Our guest judges selected a winner, runner-up, and student winner from the finalists in each track. IUCN, Esri, and the Our Towns Civic Foundation each selected one winner for a special award.

Congratulations to our inspiring storytellers.


Explore last year's recipients

Esri Community Contest—MVP Awards

This year's recipients

Johannes Lindner

Dan Patterson

Joshua Carlson

Joel Bennett

Chris Counsell

Alexander Bureaux


About the award

The Esri Community Contest recognizes the most valuable participants (MVPs) in the Esri Community. This award recognizes users for their technical expertise, community spirit, and willingness to help their peers by providing useful information. Within the Esri Community, users can post questions, start discussions, share valuable knowledge, and collaborate with other members. The top three MVP recipients are chosen based on the number of solutions they've provided to their peers in the community.

Learn about this contest
Explore Esri Community