On September 21, 2021, Vernon Hills Park District was awarded the Grand Plaque Recipient in the National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management at the NRPA Congress in Nashville, TN. It is a comprehensive award offered by the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) and the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration (AAPRA).

Founded in 1965, the Gold Medal Awards program honors local park and recreation agencies, military recreation programs, and state park systems in the United States who demonstrate excellence in parks and recreation through long-range planning, resource management, volunteerism, environmental stewardship, program development, professional development and agency recognition. Applications are separated into six classes, with five classes based on population, one class for armed forces, and one for state park systems. To receive the Grand Plaque, the agency first had to be designated as a Finalist in their class. There are four (4) Finalists in each class. Click here for the video created for the application.

Vernon Hills Park District is recognized as an Illinois Distinguished Accredited Agency 2018-2023 by the Illinois Association of Park Districts and the Illinois
Park and Recreation Association. The two statewide associations administer the Illinois Distinguished Accreditation program with the goal of improving the
delivery of park and recreation services to Illinois residents. It is a voluntary, comprehensive evaluation process to demonstrate that agencies have met
state guidelines to provide exceptional services to their community. The District has been honored with this accreditation since 2006.

Since 1996, the District has received annually the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officer’s Association (GFOA) for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. The GFOA established the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Program (COA) in 1945 to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to prepare comprehensive annual financial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure and then to recognize individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal. This is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting.