Get ahead of the competition! Register your interest in the 2025 CIHT Awards and be amongst the first to know

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
• Submissions must be made in English only
• Entries must be submitted no later than Monday, 4 March 2024. We encourage early submission. 
• 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 & Winvic Construction Collaboration Award

The Collaboration Award recognises the importance of effective relationships with other organisations and/or sectors to deliver real solutions and recognises those that have shown dedication to working in collaboration.

We expect collaboration to be between different organisations within the highways and transportation sector.  

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 Creating Better Places Award

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

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

• Supported an increase in active travel  
• Create an inclusive environment   
• Creating ease of movement for all users   
• Improved the safety and health of the public   
• Improved the quality of the place where the scheme is situated   
• Has provided both environmental, social and economic benefits

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

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 the movement of people and goods or from design, construction, operation & maintenance, and decommissioning of transport infrastructure. 

The entry can also address how the initiative’s implementation has also delivered wider financial, economic, and social benefits.

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 active travel and 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, in particular those that have eliminated or significantly reduced the need for construction works   

CIHT Equality Diversity and Inclusion Award

CIHT believes in working towards 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 taken in its creation and the measures used to monitor meaningful progress, including strong evidence of:  

• Stakeholder engagement  
• Clarity of aims & objectives  
• The accessibility of the EDI initiative  
• Lessons learnt during implementation  
• Tangible outcomes  
• The scalability and replicability 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. As there has been a positive shift beyond a business case level of understanding of EDI, entries should focus on specific initiatives rather than high level and general EDI strategies.  

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 & Kier 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 & WJ Group 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 & WSP 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 & Carrington West 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. The team should comprise of 5 or more persons and must operate within the highways and transportation sector. We expect the team to be working for a single organisational entity. 

Entries must demonstrate excellence in the following areas:  

• How team working has delivered improved outcomes  
• How teamwork helped to achieve a clear result or outcome  
• The integration of CIHT values - Professional, Inclusive, Collaborative and Progressive. 

CIHT Technology and Innovation Award

This award recognises innovation in the industry, such as 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 (but not limited to): 

• Positive impact on projects, scalability and integration with other elements of the highways and transportation sector   
• Employee or customer satisfaction   
• Better use of materials and resources   
• Sustainability, decarbonisation and resilience  
• Services or working methods   

Bus Centre of Excellence Awards

The National Bus Strategy created the Bus Centre of Excellence (BCoE), funded and co-sponsored by the Department for Transport, enabling the delivery of a long-term programme of activities and support to the bus sector.  In partnership with the DfT, the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) and delivers the BCOE, working closely with sector stakeholders to deliver an asset that is run by the industry for the industry..

How to Enter

All entry submissions must be made online via the online entry portal.

Links to the online entry panel will be added to the CIHT Award Pages from 11am 8 January 2024.

Submissions must be made in English only.

What should be included in an entry?

• A high resolution, 300 dpi, version of your company logo. If your project involved more organisations, please provide their logos as well.  
• A hero image of your project to be used for CIHT promotional material if you are shortlisted.  
• Your entry should not exceed the word limit. 
• An executive summary of the activity. The summary will not be scored but will be used as an aid by judges and 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 projects and, where possible, the outcomes 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, we encourage you to address the different criteria for each category you are submitting your 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 the entry in all media and CIHT Policy and Technical publications. 
9. The evidence contained in the submission must be correct and you can provide further details if required.
10. The organisers reserve the right to verify that all entries have been produced for a client or for the public where relevant. 

Sponsorship

To discuss sponsorship opportunities in relation to the awards, please contact Ben Sellers on Ben.sellers@thinkpublishing.co.uk +44 (0)20 3771 7238

Help and support

Awards enquiries: awards@ciht.org.uk

Award ceremony enquiries: conferences@ciht.org.uk

Sponsorship enquiries: ben.sellers@thinkpublishing.co.uk