Macon County takes top prize in 2020 Alabama Census Bowl
The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) – in conjunction with Alabama Counts! – announced today the winners of the 2020 Alabama Census Bowl competition. Among eight winning counties out of an original 32 county participants, Macon County was named overall State Champion and will receive $65,000 to put towards use in its public-school system.
“I congratulate Macon County on a job well done in taking home top prize in this exciting March Madness-style competition,” Governor Kay Ivey said. “Each participating county worked hard to increase their self-response rates, and this competition highlights that effort. We are extremely pleased with the results and look forward to seeing each winning county’s school systems benefit from their grant funds.”
Winners of the 2020 Alabama Census Bowl are:
- Overall State Champion and East Bracket Winner (wins $65,000): Macon County
- West Bracket Winner (wins $45,000): Sumter County
- Final Four Runners-up (win $30,000 each): Choctaw County and Tallapoosa County
- Elite Eight Runners-up (win $20,000 each): Washington County, Baldwin County, Pike County and Randolph County
ADECA will administer the grants to the county commissions which will distribute the funds proportionally among K-12 public school systems in their county based on the number of students in the system. The school systems must use the funds for programs or projects that directly benefit students.
Beginning on Sept. 2, 32 Alabama counties with low self-response Census rates began competing in a bracket-styled challenge – with 16 counties in the East Bracket and 16 in the West Bracket. Only the counties reaching the biggest increase in self-response rates were then able to advance to the next week. Macon County claimed the state championship as the bracket winner with the biggest increase in census self-response over the entire contest.
“With the Census Bowl concluded, time is running very short for Alabamians to complete the census. The Census Bureau has informed us that they have currently extended the census to Monday, Oct. 5 nationwide, but we ask everyone to participate today and encourage your friends and family to do the same,” said Kenneth Boswell, ADECA Director and Alabama Counts! Chairman.
Those who have not already participated in the 2020 census can do so by self-responding online at www.my2020census.gov, by phone toll-free 844-330-2020, by returning the mailed paper form or by giving household’s information to a socially distanced door-to-door census taker.