Friends Celebrates 2025 Chicago River Blue Award Winners

February 11, 2026

Friends of the Chicago River is proud to celebrate the 2025 winners of the Chicago River Blue Awards, projects and leaders who are making intentional choices to drive innovation in support of the long-term protection and restoration of the Chicago-Calumet River system. These awardees demonstrate what’s possible when ecologically and economically smart river-sensitive design, and community-centered planning guide decision-making.

Click here to learn more about each honoree and view photos of the projects. 

Blue Ribbon Award

At the highest level, the Blue Ribbon Award recognizes one project annually for outstanding creativity, leadership, and commitment to river health. This year’s Blue Ribbon Award honors the Robbins Heritage Park and Midlothian Creek Restoration Project, led by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD). This transformative project features a publicly accessible stormwater park with cascading ponds, restored and stabilized streambanks, rain gardens, and bioswales that clean and manage stormwater before it reaches the Cal-Sag Channel. Together, these features reduce flooding, improve water quality, restore nearly 2,000 linear feet of Midlothian Creek with native vegetation, and remove more than 1,300 parcels from the 100-year floodplain, delivering benefits for people, wildlife, and water.

Silver Ribbon Award

The Silver Ribbon Award, given to projects that exemplify exceptional sustainability and design excellence, was awarded to the Lockport Prairie and Prairie Bluff Ecosystem Restoration Project. This six-year, 600-acre restoration effort, led by the Forest Preserve District of Will County in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC, supports important indicator species, including Blanding’s turtles and the federally endangered Hine’s emerald dragonfly. The project reversed years of declining prairie quality through large-scale invasive species removal, restoration of natural hydrology, and habitat improvements along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal corridor.

Green Ribbon Awards

The Green Ribbon Awards recognize projects demonstrating a high level of river-sensitive design and thoughtful consideration of watershed impacts. This year’s Green Ribbon honorees include the Talbot Avenue Drainage Improvement Project in Lake County by the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission; “Groundbreaking research on natural shorelines” ground-breaking research by Austin Happel from the Shedd Aquarium and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources; the University of Chicago Campus South Walk, an innovative example of nature-based stormwater management; and expanded education and river access at River Park by the Chicago Park District.

Together, the 2025 Chicago River Blue Award winners show how intentional, informed choices can protect waterways, restore habitat, and connect people to the river increasing economic and ecological value. Friends of the Chicago River established the Chicago River Blue Awards in 2010 to educate, encourage, and reward projects aligned with this vision. Learn more about our priority best practices for river edge projects in our Developer Resource Guide and explore how your project can be part of a healthier river future.

View a complete list of past winners.