Overview

The CIHT Awards is an annual global competition that provides the work you are most proud of with the international recognition it deserves. The awards celebrate your innovative work, what it takes to be the best and the incredible benefits your work and the highways and transportation sector bring to society.

Your role is to produce incredible work, our role is to celebrate best practice, promote your professionalism and give it the biggest stage.

A message from Sue Percy, Chief Executive, CBE

Sue Percy, Chief Executive, CBE, highlights why your organisation should enter the CIHT Awards. The most prestigious and rewarding awards for the Highways and Transport sector worldwide. We ensure there is no obstacle to enter. Free to enter, no project too big or too small, any location and judged by impartial expert judges with a diversity of experience and opinion

If your organisation currently works in the highways and transportation sector there is no obstacle to enter

• The awards are free to enter
• No project too big or too small
• Entries can be from any location
• Entries are open to every organisation working in the sector, whether a CIHT partner or not
• Entries can be submitted by anyone whether a CIHT member or not
• Eligible projects can be entered for as many categories as appropriate
• An organisation can also enter as many distinct eligible projects as they wish for a category
• Entries are judged by impartial expert judges with a diversity of experience and opinion

Greater Relevance and Even More Impact

The CIHT Awards have evolved to ensure the issues that the sector faces and the areas where the sector needs to excel are addressed. CIHT have ensured that focus is given to these areas and that they will resonate even more with your audiences.

Categories at a Glance

CIHT Collaboration Award

This award recognises those that have shown dedication to working in collaboration with other teams, organisations and/or sectors to deliver real solutions. Entrants will explain how collaborative working added value to the project outcomes and what role it played in enhancing relationships and engagement.

Submissions should focus on the key activities undertaken to stimulate and promote collaboration, the methods and practices adopted, and the outcomes achieved.

Entries can be single projects and schemes or wider programmes of work and strategies to support and improve collaboration.

CIHT & Ringway Decarbonisation Award

This award recognises projects, schemes, products, and strategies that can demonstrate the delivery of a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The judging of this award will look for examples of reduction arising from transport use or from design, construction, operation & maintenance, and decommissioning of transport infrastructure. The entry can also address how the initiative’s implementation has been positive for the organisation in terms of innovation, employee engagement and satisfaction, and profitability and business success. The entry must show that the organisation has provided leadership and vision in taking climate action.

Examples of entries (but not limited to)

• Product innovation and development that enables decarbonisation
• Reducing the need to travel or enabling high levels of modal shift to public transport
• Organisations that have created and implemented ambitious decarbonisation strategies and targets above and beyond industry standards
• Infrastructure projects that have delivered significant carbon reduction

CIHT EDI Award

CIHT believes in working for equality, diversity and inclusion in the transportation sector. A sector that truly represents the wider community that we serve enables us to deliver the best solutions to the challenges we face.

This award recognises employers or individuals that have implemented (or been involved in) an EDI (Equality, Diversity, Inclusion) initiative of merit. The overall judging will consider how the EDI initiative has been implemented, what steps have been done in its creation and the measures used to monitor progress, including:

• Stakeholder engagement
• Clarity of aims & objectives
• The accessibility of the EDI initiative
• Lessons learnt during implementation
• The longevity of the initiative

The EDI initiative should have made a positive contribution to the organisation, industry and society. The judges will also be looking for how well the initiative(s) have been embedded in the organisation and evidence of culture change

CIHT Infrastructure Award

This award recognises exceptional engineering solutions that have delivered creative and resilient infrastructure. From good asset management and maintenance to the construction of bridges, tunnels and other civil engineering infrastructure, this award recognises both small and large schemes projects that have showcased civil engineering in the best way possible. The judges will be looking for entries that can demonstrate how the infrastructure brings public benefit, as well as clear demonstration of how social value is embedded in the scheme.

Entries can include (but not limited to):

• Infrastructure and civil engineering projects
• The use of asset management principles that have improved outcomes for organisations and the infrastructure.

CIHT Professionalism Award

This award looks to recognise those individuals in the sector that have demonstrated professionalism in the work that they do. Entrants will demonstrate how they maintain and develop professional ethical expertise and deliver a safe and effective service for all.

This will be awarded to a member of CIHT who has shown awareness of and engagement with the issues facing the sector and through their actions as a role model has delivered positive change for the profession and society. The award is a celebration of the successful role models progressing the profession through professionalism and innovative thinking.

Eligibility

• This award is open to nominated CIHT members throughout highways and transportation.

• You cannot nominate yourself

CIHT Research Award

This award looks to recognise an outstanding piece of research in the highways and transportation sector and looks to improve the industry by addressing a specific problem. The research project should have outlined clear targets, with structured research methods and be a unique piece of work that has been well communicated to the wider sector.   

CIHT Road Safety Award

The Road Safety Award, in memory of John Smart, recognises outstanding achievements which improve road user safety through excellent practice, design and technical application. 

The award welcomes both technical and educational/training/publicity projects, which can demonstrate the quantifiable effects of the project either through measurement, monitoring or description. Road safety initiatives, schemes or products that contribute to casualty reduction are welcomed for this award, particularly where they provide outputs that can be widely applied. 

CIHT & Kier Streets Award

This award recognises how outstanding design and implementation of schemes in our towns and cities improve the places around them and create places for people. 

This award recognises those schemes or projects that have created new streets or altered existing streets and have demonstrated how the changes have met the following objectives; 

• Creating an inclusive environment that meets the needs of all users 
• Creating ease of movement for all users 
• Improved safety for all and the health of the public 
• Improved the quality of the place where the scheme is situated
• Has provided both environmental and economic benefits 

When scoring, judges will be looking at how the entry demonstrates sustainable places, inclusive design, active travel, green and blue infrastructure, or other relevant areas. Therefore, it is important to highlight any of these components in your entry.

CIHT Sustainability Award

This award recognises projects, schemes, products, or strategies delivered or developed by the highways and transportation industry that can demonstrate a contribution to sustainable development. The judges of this award will be looking for entries that show a clear commitment to one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal(s) and demonstrate environmental benefits with either a global or local impact. 

Example UN Sustainable Development Goals include (but not limited to): 

• Goal 9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
• Goal 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
• Goal 13 – Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

CIHT Team of the Year Award

This award is aimed at celebrating the achievements of teams who have demonstrated professionalism and have been able to adapt and work effectively under the challenges posed in the Highways and Transportation sector. Entries are welcome from the public, third, private and education sector and also from teams working across different organisations. The award will be based on how well the entry demonstrates the values of CIHT.

CIHT’s Values are:
• Professional
• Inclusive
• Collaborative
• Progressive

CIHT Technology and Innovation Award

This award recognises innovation in the industry, this could be in terms of new technology, products, processes, and services that have impacted an organisation, industry and society positively. The innovation can apply to any aspect of the highways and transportation sector. Judging will consider the national and international impact of the entry and how applicable it is across the highways and transportation industry.

The entry could explain how the innovation has contributed to:

• company growth
• financial performance, efficiencies
• employee or customer satisfaction
• better use of materials and resources
• sustainability (climate action)
• services or working methods

What You Can Enter

To enter this year’s awards, your work needs to have been live at some point between 01/01/2021 and 01/01/2023 and address all judging criteria.

In addition, for the judges to be able to properly assess how the entry has led to achieving the benefits intended, at the time of entry, it should have been fully implemented or open to use for a period of at least 6 months and no earlier than 01/01/2021.

How to Enter

What should be included in an entry?

• A high resolution, 300 dpi, version of your company logo
• Your entry taking care not to exceed the word limit
• A summary of the activity. The summary is what will appear on the website and promotional material if you are nominated. Tell people why your entry is so good and why it is worth further attention.
• Supporting material: photographs, videos and/ or other graphic images that illustrate your entry in any way is encouraged
• At least one photo or image provided should be in high resolution, 300 dpi, for potential reproduction in promotional material

Entry Rules

1. You are the owner of all intellectual rights in your entry or have all necessary consents from all other owner(s) of intellectual rights in your entry.
2. Entries must be received no later than the published deadline date.
3. All submissions must be made online.
4. All entries must be supplied and conform to the category rules and submission formats.
5. Work entered into more than one category must be treated as a completely separate entry.
6. The judges’ decision is final.
7. Due to the number of entries received, we cannot give feedback on individual entries.
8. By entering these awards, you give the organisers the right to share, publish and otherwise use my entry in all media.
9. The organisers reserve the right to verify that all entries have been commercially produced for a commercial client where relevant.
10. The evidence contained in the submission must be correct and you can provide further details if required.

Key Dates

Launch/open for entries: Monday 9 January 2023

EXTENDED deadline for entries: Monday 13 March 2023

Shortlist announced: Tuesday 11 April 2023

Winners announced: Thursday 15 June 2023

Sponsorship

To discuss sponsorship opportunities in relation to this event, please contact Ben Sellers on Ben.sellers@thinkpublishing.co.uk +(0)20 3771 7238 or Michael Coulsey on Michael.coulsey@thinkpublishing.co.uk +(0)20 3771 7232.

Help and support

If you require any further information regards the awards please do not hesitate to contact us on awards@ciht.org.uk or T: +44 (0)20 7336 1555 (Option 5)