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Welcome to the application form for the Access City Award 2027

Since 2010, the European Commission, in collaboration with the European Disability Forum, recognises cities across the EU that are making urban life more accessible for persons with disabilities.

Does it sound like your city? Then apply for the Access City Award 2027 edition until 4 September 2026, 12:00 PM CEST (midday).

Finalist cities will be invited to the award ceremony on 4 December 2026 in Brussels, during the European Day of Persons with Disabilities conference.

The winner and runners-up will receive a monetary prize of EUR 150 000 (1st place), EUR 120 000 (2nd place), and EUR 80 000 (3rd place).

Special Mentions may also be awarded to cities demonstrating exceptional accessibility achievements in specific areas or through innovative initiatives.

For example, the European Commission intends to award a Special Mention to a city promoting local services that support persons with disabilities in their daily activities, preventing them from living in institutions and keeping them connected to city life.

How to apply?

Fill in the following online form, with the help of the guidance note and the rules of contest, soon available in all EU official languages.
Upload the supporting documents:
- Mayoral declaration
- Declaration of honour
- Financial identification form
- Legal entity form
- (Optional) 10-slide PowerPoint presentation highlighting key aspects of your application

If you have any question, send an email to secretariat@accesscityaward.eu. The European Commission, with the support of the ACA Secretariat (run by Ecorys Europe EEIG, as the external contractor for this year's edition of the award), will help.

A. CITY IDENTITY

B. RELEVANCE TO THE OBJECTIVES

C. OWNERSHIP / LEVEL OF COMMITMENT

D. IMPACT

E. QUALITY AND SUSTAINABILITY OF RESULTS

F. INVOLVEMENT OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AND RELEVANT PARTNERS

G. WHY DOES YOUR CITY DESERVE TO WIN THE ACCESS CITY AWARD 2027?

H. WHICH OF YOUR INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY ARE FOCUSED ON DEVELOPING ACCESSIBLE COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES TO PROMOTE INDEPENDENT LIVING?

Do you have measures to advance the development of accessible community-based services to promote independent living for persons with disabilities in your city? (optional)

As the European Commission intends to award a Special Mention for Accessible Community-Based Services for this year’s edition of the Access City Award, please, give examples of initiatives that you have worked on to promote accessible community based services that contribute to advance independent living and the transition from institutional care to community-based living and supports so persons with disabilities can live with dignity and fully participate in society and economy in your city. Please clarify whether you are delivering the services or they are public or private and provided by other organisations. In that case, please clearly indicate if there is a direct link to your measures. When available, please, provide the number of users of those services, how many persons with disabilities have been supported to leave an institution and start living autonomously in the community; and the independent living arrangements developed (or planned to) in your city.

You may provide as well, when available, information about your city’s strategy for the overall deinstitutionalisation process, time-bound targets, indicators, dedicated budget and resources, the governance arrangement for this purpose, the quality control system and monitoring tools.

Please, describe as well whether and how local communities, users and organisations representing them, as well as other relevant stakeholders were involved and participated in the process of designing and implementing the initiative.

This is an optional question. The applicant is not obliged to reply to this question if it is not relevant.

I. WHICH OTHER OF YOUR INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY DESERVES A SPECIAL MENTION?

Other accessibility initiatives deserving a Special Mention (optional)

Please, give concrete example(s) and information of other initiative(s) that you have worked on to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities that can be considered for a Special Mention. Please, describe as well whether and how local communities and relevant stakeholders were involved and participated in the process of designing and implementing the initiatives.

Please, do not include here the initiatives focused on accessible community-based services already explained in the above section.

This is an optional question. The applicant is not obliged to reply to this question if it is not relevant.

J. WHERE DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE 2027 ACCESS CITY AWARD COMPETITION?

K. SUPPORTING MATERIAL

In addition to the information provided in the application form, candidates must upload on the portal – or send a link to – up to five files, as following:

1. Mayoral declaration (mandatory)

2. Declaration on honour (mandatory)

3. Legal Entity Form (LEF) (mandatory)

4. Financial Identification Form (FIF) (mandatory)

5. A ten-slide PowerPoint presentation in order to illustrate and highlight (for example, with pictures) the strong points of their application (optional)

The uploaded files must fulfil the following requirements:

- Candidate cities are encouraged to submit their documents in English, in order to facilitate the assessment and speed up the evaluation process. Documents submitted in any of the official languages of the EU will be anyways accepted. No other languages will be accepted.

- Maximum size of one file is 10 MB

- Accepted file formats are doc, docx, rtf, pps, ppsx, ppt, pptx, xls, xlsx, pdf, zip, gif, jpeg, jpg, png.

- Each uploaded document must be appropriately named. The file name should be in English and should clearly state what the file represents or contains.

L. CONTACT DETAILS AND REFERENCE LINKS

DISCLAIMER: Unless the opposite is explicitly requested by the participating city, the submitted presentation texts can be made public on the Access City Award 2027 website.

The processing of personal data shall meet the requirements of Regulation (EU) No 2018/1725.

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