WRTA Holiday Lights Campaign Wins National Award

Western Reserve Transit Authority (WRTA) has been notified its annual Holiday Lights campaign won First Place in a nationwide public transit competition for community educational initiatives.

WRTA’s Holiday Lights campaign competed with entries from all over the U.S. in the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) annual marketing and communications awards competition. APTA members include more than 320 public transit agencies, including New York MTA, the nation’s largest transit system.

“The Holiday Lights campaign was created to bring awareness of local non-profits and what they do for the community. “ says Dean Harris, WRTA Executive Director. “We are blessed to have so many caring organizations and people in the Valley. We wanted to spotlight their good works.” More than 30 local non-profit organizations have been spotlighted since the program began.

Each fall, WRTA invites non-profits organizations to apply for participation Holiday Lights campaign, which honors those who “light up the Valley all year long.” A mix of non-profits, small and large, are nominated each year. Twelve non-profits are chosen and honored at a special event near Thanksgiving. The winning non-profits are spotlighted on WRTA buses, TV and social media by WRTA and its sponsors all through the holiday season.

“The award from APTA is very much appreciated,” said Harris “But one of the reasons we entered the competition was to hopefully inspire other transit systems to conduct similar campaigns in their service areas also.The first place win will help us do that.”