PR Society Honors OCTA With ‘Best in Show’

External Affairs team wins 10 awards for top communication programs

SANTA ANA — The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) captured 10 awards for superior work in public relations and marketing, including the highest honor of Best in Show for the Santa Ana Freeway (I-5) Gateway Project outreach program.

The Orange County Public Relations Society of America (OC/PRSA) delivered eight first-place Protos Awards and two Awards of Excellence to OCTA’s External Affairs team for unsurpassed work in community relations, media relations and marketing.

The I-5 Gateway outreach program received the Best in Show Award for its effectiveness in notifying key target publics regarding construction activities along the major freeway through e-mail alerts, direct mailings, meetings, media outreach, an extensive Web site and a coupon program.

OCTA was honored with three Protos Awards and one Award of Excellence for their outreach work on the bus strike. The I-5 Gateway program received two Protos Awards, the Rideshare Week program received an Award of Excellence and the 35 year anniversary event, Youth Summer Bus Pass and OC Flyer each received a Protos Award.

“Reaching the public is a critical part of OCTA’s mission and I’m proud of our team’s hard work in delivering cost-effective programs,” said Art Leahy, CEO of OCTA. “These programs required superior strategic planning and precise execution that netted impressive results to enhance transportation in Orange County.”

More than 200 public relations and marketing professionals gathered over the weekend to honor this year’s top-performing communications professionals and programs during the 33rd annual Protos Awards at the OC Pavilion Performing Arts Theatre in Santa Ana.

The awards program – named Protos for “first” in Greek – recognizes outstanding performance in categories ranging from community outreach, multicultural and media relations programs to communication collateral materials and multimedia presentations.

Earlier this month, OCTA was the only organization in Orange County awarded the prestigious national Silver Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America for its issues-management work during the bus strike last summer.