Honolulu is among 305 cities that submitted ideas for Bloomberg Philanthropies’ first Mayors Challenge, in which the winning city will receive a $5 million prize and four runner-up cities will receive $1 million prizes.

The competition challenge is to identify creative ideas that solve major problems and improve city life.

The two largest categories of ideas submitted were economic development and citizen engagement to encourage innovation, each representing 20 percent of the entries, while other categories included customer service (11 percent); sustainability and public health (10 percent each) and education (9 percent).

A selection committee will narrow down the 305 city proposals from 45 states to 20 semifinalists, that will attend Ideas Camp in New York City in November.

Teams will have until January to refine their ideas, and winners will be announced next spring.