| LEADER OF THE YEAR AWARD | |||||
| Year | Recipient | Year | Recipient | Year | Recipient |
| 1972 | Harold Smith | 1997 | Willard Ray | 2023 | Scott Sovers |
| 1973 | John Bellizzi | 1998 | Bret Hodne | ||
| 1974 | Arnold Chantland | 1999 | Scott Peppler | ||
| 1975 | Lowell Richardson | 2000 | Greg Reeder | ||
| 1976 | Stan Ring | 2001 | Ron Knoke | ||
| 1977 | Mike Randolph | 2002 | Bret Hodne | ||
| 1978 | Dick King | 2003 | John Klostermann | ||
| 1979 | Maury Pierce | 2004 | Jeff May | ||
| 1980 | William W. Amundson | 2005 | Al Olson | ||
| 1981 | Leo L. Johnson | 2006 | Bill Stowe | ||
| 1982 | Francis A. Murray | 2007 | Rick Fosse | ||
| 1983 | Ronald F. Kirchner | 2008 | Greg Parker | ||
| 1984 | Eddie L. Carr, Jr. | 2009 | Pat Kozitza | ||
| 1985 | Larry Nothwehr | 2010 | John Joiner | ||
| 1986 | Lonnie D. Hawbaker | 2011 | Chad Schaeffer | ||
| 1987 | Floyd Bentz | 2012 | Ron Knoche | ||
| 1988 | Paul Wiegand | 2013 | Pat Miller | ||
| 1989 | Richard Ransom | 2014 | Tracy Warner | ||
| 1990 | Terry Cox | 2015 | Dan Whitlow | ||
| 1991 | Larry F. Johnson | 2016 | Dave McDermott | ||
| 1992 | Roger Anderburg | 2017 | Jon Dienst | ||
| 1993 | Larry Stevens | 2018 | Jason Havel | ||
| 1994 | Randy Krauel | 2019 | Adam Smith | ||
| 1995 | Michael Wallner | 2020-2021 | Jeremy Noel | ||
| 1996 | Neil T. Guess | 2022 | David Carney | ||
APWA Iowa Chapter