Here's a quick peek at the seven CEA winners from the Regional Roundtables:

Region 1- Linden/Holly/Fenton's Shiawassee River Heritage Water Trail
Region 2 - St. Joseph's Silver Beach Development
Region 3 - Belding's Community Garden
Region 4 - DeWitt's Community Showcase
Region 5 - Imlay City's Economic Gardening
Region 6 - Rogers City's Dancin' Downtown
Region 7 - Ironwood's Depot Park.
More details coming soon! Congrats to ALL our fantastic entries!

Every region had outstanding projects to offer, each one of them worthy of a win. Here are the other entries, which you'll hear more about next week on the League's new Placemaking blog:

REGION 1:

Rochester - Main Street Makeover

Eastpointe - Service line Affordable Protection Program (SLAPP)New Baltimore - "Make New Baltimore Your Destination"Plymouth - Northville Plymouth Fire Agreement

Grosse Pointe - Wellness Center and Patient Facility

Westland - Core Shopping/Dining District

REGION 2:

South Haven - Kal Haven Trail Extension and Williams Street Reconstruction

Albion - Crowell School

Bridgman, Baroda, Berrien Springs - 3B's Agri-tourism Ignition Effort

REGION 3:

Whitehall - Bioswales and Trails

REGION 4:

Mt Pleasant - Access Adventure Trail

Ithaca - Ithaca Unit of the Graiot Co Sheriff's Office

REGION 5:

Lexington- Volunteerism

Harbor Beach - Interpretive Sign Project

REGION 7

Ontonagon - Complete Streets

Sault Ste Marie - Historic Water Street

Representatives from the seven region finalists for the 2013 Community Excellence Awards. From left: Linden Mayor David Lossing (Region 1); Rogers City Manager Mark Slown (Region 6); Belding Councilmember Andrea Belding (Region 3); DeWitt City Manager Daniel Coss (Region 4); Imlay City Mayor Margaret Guerrero (Region 5); St. Joseph Mayor Robert Judd (Region 2); and Ironwood Mayor Kim Corcoran (Region 7).

Senator Roger Kahn and Mike Nystrom of MI-TA will talk transportation at the Michigan Municipal League's 2013 Capital Conference.

LANSING, Michigan - Several experts on Michigan's transportation situation willl participate in the "Getting Tough on Transportation" education session at the Michigan Municipal League's 2013 Capital Conference April 10.

Farmington Hills City Manager Steve Brock, a member of the Michigan Municipal League Board of Trustees, will moderate the session featuring Bill Hamilton, analyst for the House Fiscal Agency; Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, and Senate Appropriations Chair; Mike Nystrom, executive vice president of the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association; and Rep. Wayne Schmidt, R-Traverse City and chair of the House transportation committee.

This is a very timely education session, because transportation funding continues to be at the top of the Michigan Municipal League’s legislative priority list for 2013. The discussion will focus on options for transportation funding, multi-modal transportation, and the importance of transportation in placemaking.

View the full Capital Conference agenda and register here. Also speaking at this year's Conference are Governor Rick Snyder, Michigan Budget Director John Nixon, Mitch Bean and Eric Lupher; and John Porcari, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation. View all the speakers.

Matt Bach is director of media relations for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at mbach@mml.org and (734) 669-6317.

This is one of more than 700 hundred photos from the League's 2012 Convention. Check out more here.

There are now hundreds of photos available in this collection on the Michigan Municipal League's flickr page from our 2012 Convention on Mackinac Island. Please check them out.

Also many of you asked for copies of the various presentations given during the many education sessions that took place during Convention. We are loading those on this page as quickly as we can.

Grandville officials celebrate winning the 2012 Community Excellence Award. Read the press release.

MACKINAC ISLAND, Michigan - The city of Grandville was honored with the Michigan Municipal League's 2012 Community Excellence Award on October 5 at the League's Annual Convention on Mackinac Island.

The peer-nominated Community Excellence Award, affectionately called “The Race for the Cup,” was started by the League in 2007 to recognize innovative solutions taking place in Michigan’s cities, villages and urban townships. Grandville’s expansion and renovation project created a clean water plant that incorporates innovative wastewater treatment technology.

Read more in this press release. View photos from the CEA competition.

Seven Region finalists presented their winning presentations at the Welcome General Session of the League's Annual Convention on Wednesday afternoon:

Region 1: Utica's Riverwalk connects the city's Memorial Park on historic Main Street (Auburn Road) with its revitalized riverfront.

Region 2: Baroda's "Gateway to Wine Country" campaign is the village's effort to reinvent the farming community that has lost its tool and die industry as an agri-tourism destination.

Region 3: Grandville is doing a major upgrade of its clean water treatment plant to incorporate innovative and efficient design that is environmentally friendly and cost-effective.

Region 4: Durand is renovating and revitalizing using the principles of placemaking, centered on its new streetscape project and its legacy as a railroad community.

Region 5: Port Huron Recreation Department is a partnership that is increasing revenues for the city while providing more recreational opportunities for surrounding township residents.

Region 6: Alpena and its surrounding region are promoting arts and culture as an economic development tool.

Region 7: Bessemer is working to improve relations with the Gogebic Range Water Authority to benefit the entire region.

League members are now voting for their favorite presentation. The winner will be announced Friday morning. Good luck to all the fantastic projects!