Each year, CoreNet Global recognizes economic development organizations for their innovations, strategies and leadership by presenting the annual Economic Development Leadership Awards, regardless of the size or location of the EDC's.

Louisiana Forward is the state's response to a pair of the worst natural disasters ever: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 'Do the After-Math' is what Louisiana tells new and existing businesses as part of a broad approach to recovery, reconstruction and redevelopment through more than $250-million in grants, gap loans, opportunity bonds and other modes of funding.

Lockheed Martin's LMC Properties took an unusual but effective incentives-driven approach in responding to NASA's bid to build the next generation space exploration program known as Orion. LMC partnered with the states of Colorado, Florida, Louisiana and Texas to win the bid. It leveraged the economies-of-scale of the states' economic development incentives for an aggregate long-term impact of up to $100-billion.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is counteracting its reputation as 'Taxachusetts' by landing the manufacturing operations of Bristol-Myers Squibb. The pharmaceutical giant selected the Devens Regional Enterprise Zone for the $1.1-billion project to employ at least 550 people through the so-called "Project Hummingbird," the code name for the deal.

Southwest Michigan First has turned around the fortunes of an otherwise sagging economy in Kalamazoo. Its 'community capitalism' model is privately funded and has generated an ROI of more than $1-billion through a combination of incubator, science venture and intellectual capital initiatives.

For the Charlotte Regional Film Commission, it was like becoming an overnight sensation after working for a decade to build the service base and infrastructure to attract major productions like Talladega Nights and economic impact totaling $250-million to date.

Fayette, North Carolina, is host to major military installations like Fort Bragg. The Cumberland County Business Council has leveraged the military to create $300-million in contracts for local companies to date in part through a $3-million economic development fund.

Another effective use of military installations can be found at the former Fort Devens, Massachusetts. The Bay State redeveloped the base from a brown field into a mixed-use, green enterprise zone that is creating new jobs and affordable housing.

Regional cooperation and university partnerships are leading attributes of successful economic development strategies, as is the case with the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. The group's 80 core team members meet weekly to generate over $20-million in applied research that has saved 1,000 jobs and created as many more new ones.

Austin, Texas, brands itself as "The Human Capital," an asset which helped it land the largest-ever reported foreign direct investment in North America. When the Austin Chamber landed Samsung's next generation semi-conductor plant, it also secured a $3.5-to-$5-billion capital investment in the future based on the quality performance of employees at the company's existing Austin facility.

'Know your client, and focus on what they need,' is the key to Frisco, Texas, EDC's success in attracting T-Mobile's technology campus to the mixed-use Frisco Bridges business park. The company expanded the scope of its Frisco plan and is investing nearly $700-million across multiple lines of business there.

The State of Mississippi literally took advantage of its web linkage to the Tennessee Valley Authority when it convinced SeverCorr to build its new state-of-the-art steel mill in Lowndes County for a $650-million investment and 450 new jobs that have already helped attract a major Toyota production plant to the same area that's now part of the Southern Automotive Corridor.

In Stamford, Connecticut, the Antares development corporation has taken 80 acres of under-utilized brown fields on the city's southern fringe and is redeveloping the area that also includes waterfront and public transit access now leading to more local jobs and investment.

Kudos to our group of seven senior-level corporate real estate and economic development executives who reviewed a record 31 nominations.

• Sanjiv Awasthi, Fidelity
• Beth Choulas, Capital One
• Jim Harbaugh, Bristol-Myers Squibb
• Mario Hernandez, San Antonio EDF
• Blain Trendler, Intel
• Sam Unger, Ernst & Young
• Holly Wiedman, Miami-Dade Beacon Council