For everything from creative safe driving campaigns for young drivers to responses to severe winter storms, 20 state department of transportation communication teams recently received honors for their exceptional work aimed at connecting with and engaging the public.
[Above photo by AASHTO]
These awards were given out at the 2026 annual meeting of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Committee on Communication, held September 27-30 in San Diego.
That committee – known as TransComm – promotes excellence in communications through the exchange of ideas and educational programming and advises other AASHTO committees on communication issues. It’s comprised of communications and public affairs professionals from all 50 state departments of transportation, plus those of Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.
Officially known as the TransComm Skills Awards competition, state DOTs compete in categories such as publications (both for internal and external audiences), marketing, public awareness approaches, events, videos, writing, social media, customer service, and several others.
The 2026 competition received 177 nominations from 38 state DOTs.
The Illinois Department of Transportation and Wisconsin Department of Transportation both took home the top Excel Awards, which honor exceptional full public relations programs and campaigns with multiple elements.
Illinois DOT’s “Move Illinois: Using Data to Turn Values into Strategy” rebuilt the public engagement process regarding the department’s long-range transportation plan, creating a new public involvement strategy that involves residents and travelers at every step to garner engagement from Illinois residents regardless of socioeconomic status, location, language, demographic or education.
Wisconsin DOT’s “Blackout and Retro Plate Rollout” built awareness and interest in the state’s new license plates options, which brought in additional revenue to the state transportation fund. The communications team, with no advertising dollars, generated a lot of interest through social media and news stories.
Several individuals were also honored for their work in helping their communities, state DOTs, and the greater transportation communications community.
Specifically, Kenna Mitchell of the Texas Department of Transportation received the committee’s Founder’s Award for her two decades of service to transportation communications and informing, educating and mentoring a generation of state DOT communications professionals.
A full list of 2026 TransComm Skills Awards winners can be found here.
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