9-1-1 Impact Awards

The 9-1-1 Impact Awards provide a unique opportunity to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to public safety communications while celebrating the collective achievements of our community.

In 2025, the 9-1-1 Impact Awards replaced the Public Safety Communications Leadership in Policy Awards to encompass a wider range of eligible recipients.

Award recipients will be recognized by leaders from the public safety community, government and industry during a special reception held in Washington, D.C., in April.

The 2026 award recipients are:

The Honorable Troy Carter
U.S. Representative for Louisiana’s 2^nd Congressional District

Congressman Carter represents Louisiana’s 2^nd Congressional District (including New Orleans).

Congressman Carter serves on the House Committee on Energy & Commerce and sits on the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology — which covers telecommunications, technology policy, and public safety communications. Congressman Carter also serves on the Homeland Security Committee.
The Congressman co-led the introduction of the Next Generation 9-1-1 Act (H.R. 6505), which seeks to modernize our emergency communications by establishing a federal grant program to support the transition to NG9-1-1.
He is also 1^st Vice Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The Honorable Richard Hudson
U.S. Representative for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District

Congressman Hudson is the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.

Congressman Hudson co-led the introduction of the Next Generation 9-1-1 Act (H.R. 6505, and has a history of introducing bipartisan NG9-1-1 legislation.
Congressman Hudson previously served as a Co-Chair of the Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus.

Zenji Nakazawa
Bureau Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PHSB)
Federal Communications Commission

Under Chief Nakazawa’s leadership, the PSHSB has initiated key rulemaking proceedings on a number of public safety matters of interest to APCO.

These include NG9-1-1 interoperability and reliability, 9-1-1 location accuracy and wireless emergency alerts.

Megan Noland
Executive Director, Major County Sheriffs of America (MCSA)

Under Noland, MCSA filed comments with OMB in support of reclassification of public safety telecommunicators as part of the SOC’s initial comment period on the 2028 SOC revision.

MCSA also:

Wrote a letter to Congress expressing support for the 911 SAVES Act (H.R. 637) and the reclassification provisions of the Enhancing First Response Act (S.725); and
Filed comments with the FCC in February 2025 in alignment with APCO’s positions on 9-1-1 location accuracy.

NG9-1-1 Institute 9-1-1 Honor Awards

APCO is proud to partner this year with the NG9-1-1 Institute in presenting two of the Institute’s 9-1-1 Honor Awards. These awards honor the heroes, individual leaders, and outstanding groups and organizations of the 9-1-1, public safety and emergency response community for their achievements in the prior year.

Citizen in Action Award
Fairfield Ludlowe High School’s American Sign Language Club

Steve Souder Government Leader Award
Staff of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau

9-1-1 Impact Award Sponsors

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