AdWheel Awards
The AdWheel Awards recognize the marketing, communications, customer experience, and public relations efforts of APTA’s members. Additionally, the annual awards competition creates a structure to share best practices and to raise the awareness of the value of public transportation marketing professionals within the industry. The entry process for the 2027 cycle is open October 30 – December 2, 2026 and entrants will be notified of the First Place results by mid-January 2027.
What are the categories and subcategories?
To align the AdWheel Awards with organizational and industry strategic goals, awards will be presented in the following three (3) categories. Each category has five (5) subcategories for entries to be submitted under.
- Best Marketing and Communications Workforce Development Initiative (e.g. staff recruitment or retention)
- Print Media (e.g. brochure, newspaper ad, billboard)
- Electronic Media (e.g. online video, TV/radio/podcast ad, web content)
- Special Event (e.g. community activity, press conference)
- Social Media (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram efforts)
- Comprehensive Campaign (A campaign is an effort with multiple components that are used together to achieve your goal)
- Best Marketing and Communications to Increase Ridership or Sales
- Print Media
- Electronic Media
- Special Event
- Social Media
- Comprehensive Campaign
- Best Marketing and Communications Educational Initiative (Non-Workforce Development [e.g. Highlighting funding needs, general public information, improving safety or security, courtesy, or other transit objective])
- Print Media
- Electronic Media
- Special Event
- Social Media
- Comprehensive Campaign
How and when will 2027 winners be honored?
First Place winners and non-winners will be notified in mid-January 2027 and will be honored in-person at the 2027 APTA MCX Workshop, February 21 – 24, 2027, in Houston, TX.
Grand Award winners will then be selected from the First Place winners, notified in mid-summer 2027, and honored at APTA TRANSform in Los Angeles, September 26-29, 2027.
Eligibility:
All APTA members in good standing may submit entries. Entries may be submitted by individual members, or two or more members working on the same project. For answers to membership questions, call APTA’s Membership Department at 202-496-4800.
Eligible Entries: Elements or campaigns must have been used in whole or in part between October 16, 2025 and November 30, 2026, and that particular entry element/campaign may not have previously won an AdWheel Award.
NOTE: All materials entered become property of APTA and may be used in promotion of both APTA and the AdWheel Awards.
All entries must have been submitted via the online entry portal by Wednesday, December 2, 2026 at 11:59pm PT.
Fees:
The AdWheel Awards Program is a self-sustaining program. Entry fees are used to cover the costs of running the program. You are allowed to enter in as many subcategories and categories as you like. The 2027 entry fee is $125 per entry.
- You may pay by credit card after you complete your entry.
- You can also pay by check. Please remember to send a copy of your invoice with your payment. Many checks are sent to APTA and we need to know where the funds should be allocated.
- Payment is due by January 9, 2026.
- Purchase Orders are not allowed as a form of payment for this awards program.
Make checks payable to: American Public Transportation Association and mail to:
APTA
AdWheel Awards-c/o Anna Lisi
1300 I Street NW, Suite 1200 E
Washington, D.C. 20005
Entry Tips:
APTA has created a list of tips to help you submit your AdWheel Award entry.
- Avoid the Rush Hour Traffic Jam: The submission portal receives a lot of activity the last four (4) business days before the deadline. To avoid overloading the site, be sure to submit your entries in advance.
- Group Selection: Verify your 2025 ridership statistics before selecting a group category. APTA reports this data, and you can find it in the Q4 2025 report.
- File Upload Limits: The maximum file size is 20 MB. Please do not upload zip files.
- Video Files: All video files must be submitted as YouTube or Vimeo URLs.
- Advertising Agency Submissions: If you are an advertising agency, be sure the transit agency’s name that you are representing is clearly listed on the submission. If you are unsure which category to select for the entry, ask the transit agency.
- Category Selection: Double check the category you have selected to make sure it is the correct category for your entry.
The Written Part of the Entry is the “Effectiveness Statement”
Submit clear and concise effectiveness statements, maximum 150 word count (about 800 characters) per question. (Judges read this statement, view files you have uploaded, and follow links you have attached, in order to determine the score of the entry.)
- What is the challenge your entry addresses?
- Who is your target audience?
- What strategy did you develop to meet your objective?
- How has your entry impacted the organization and what are the results?
- Why did you submit this entry for an AdWheel award?
Group determinations are based on your parent organization’s 2025 data:
- Group 1: Providing 3 million or fewer annual passenger trips
- Group 2: Providing more than 3 million but fewer than 15 million annual passenger trips
- Group 3: Providing more than 15 million but fewer than 50 million annual passenger trips
- Group 4: Providing 50 million or more annual passenger trips
- Group 5: Business members and affiliate members not operating transit service
Judging Criteria:
Each entry is judged on the following measures:
- Goals Achieved
- Overall Impact
- Message Clarity
The two highest scoring subcategory winners and the campaign subcategory winner will be considered for the overall category Grand Award.
Have Additional Questions?
For technical submission issues, please contact Marc Osman, APTA Director of Web and Database Support at mosman@apta.com.
For all other questions, please contact Anna Lisi, APTA Director of Publications, Marketing & Communications at alisi@apta.com.
