2026 TSMO Awards
The NOCoE TSMO Awards celebrate the TSMO strategies and tools that leverage existing infrastructure to increase safety and reliability and the individuals who lead the way in advancing the practices.
Submissions for the 2026 Awards are due January 30, 2026. You can submit your award application here.
Click here to view the 2025 TSMO Award winners.
Three Award Types
The Four Category Awards
The NOCoE TSMO Awards celebrate the TSMO strategies and tools that leverage existing infrastructure to increase safety and reliability. Each year, NOCoE awards winners in four TSMO Award categories. For 2025, the categories are:
- Best TSMO Project
- Agency Improvement
- Emerging Practices and Technologies
- Performance Measurement
Where possible, NOCoE will also promote the four category winners via webinars, peer exchanges, and other industry activities.
Click here to view the 2025 TSMO Award winners.
The Overall Winner
The TSMO Award 2026 Overall Winner will then be chosen from the four category winners.
The winner will be announced at the NOCoE luncheon at the CTSO Annual Meeting, taking place in March 2026 in Charlotte, NC. The project will then be promoted to the wider transportation industry via press releases, specialized case studies, and a video made featuring the project and the team.
Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award Winner
The Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award (previously TSMO Champion), honors an individual who has made significant contributions to advancing TSMO both inside their organization and within the industry at-large. To submit a nomination for this award, please email Adam Hopps directly and in 500 words, please demonstrate the impacts this individual has made both internal to their organization and to the wider industry.
The Benefits of Winning an Award
Benefits of being a TSMO Award winner include:
- A TSMO Award and digital seal for promotion
- A case study document of their submission featured on the NOCoE website
- A press release announcing them as a TSMO Award winner
- A feature in NOCoE’s newsletter, social media channels, and website as a TSMO Award winner
Most award submissions are also turned into NOCoE Case Studies, which form a library of TSMO strategies, tactics, and best practices that can be shared with other TSMO practitioners and organizations.
Benefits of being a Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award winner include:
- A Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award and digital seal for promotion
- A profile document highlighting the individual and their contributions featured on the NOCoE website
- A press release announcing them as a Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award winner
- A feature in NOCoE’s newsletter, social media channels, and website as a Joey Sagal TSMO Leadership Award winner
Category Award Descriptions
Best TSMO Project
This award will recognize an actual, implemented TSMO project; planning or response to a specific event; or other TSMO improvement with consideration of safety, congestion and/or travel time reliability improvements. These innovative practices seek to advance the transportation system via TSMO strategies, such as active traffic management, connected vehicle applications, traffic incident management, traveler information, integrated corridor management, work zones using TSMO, special event management, and all other TSMO strategies deployed on the system to save lives, time, or money.
Agency Improvement
This award will recognize an agency/organization that uses Capability Maturity Model (CMM) in the agency/organization and how the capabilities in each of the CMM dimensions have been improved through the use of the agency/organization self-assessments, development of business processes and implementation of follow-on action plans. Topic areas might include workforce development, organizational improvements, contracting for TSMO, establishing partnerships, planning, or expanding TSMO capabilities.
Emerging Practices and Technologies
This award will highlight an agency or organization that has deployed an emerging practice or technology to support their transportation system or the system user. Emerging practices might include connected or automated vehicles, new mobility solutions, new data applications, or other TSMO deployments using strategies new to your agency or organization. Submissions in this category should be sure to discuss how the emerging practice was chosen and the expected benefits.
Performance Measurement
Performance measurement is a crucial part of TSMO. TSMO performance management permits level of service objectives to be reliably met in response to changing conditions, disruptions, and events. Not only are performance measures indicators of how well the transportation system is performing, but a vital tool in planning for operations and the evaluation of TSMO strategies. This award will be given to an agency that effectively demonstrates how performance measures are used to continually improve system operational performance outcomes. The use of AI, cameras, data streams, etc. is important, but this award focuses on how those tools are applied to TSMO planning and strategies and the overall improvement of the system to the benefit of the traveling public.
Eligibility and Criteria
NOCoE TSMO Awards are open to any city, county, MPO (RPO, COG), regional or state agency and private sector organizations.
Applicants should describe a TSMO project or strategy, implemented within the last five years that demonstrates transportation system management or operations success in saving lives, time or money (individually or in combination). Submissions will be judged on the 1200 word submissions (with weighted sections) and supporting documentation that demonstrates an overall public, community and industry impact, creativity and advances TSMO.
Submissions may be shared publicly and on the NOCoE website (unless otherwise requested).
Submit your projects here.
Click here to view the 2025 TSMO Award winners.
Judging Criteria
Projects are judged by technical subject matter experts who work with NOCoE. The weighted criteria for judging is as follows:
- 10% – Background
- 20% – TSMO Planning, Strategies and Deployment
- 20% – Communications Planning and Execution
- 40% – Outcome, Learnings and Public Benefit
- 10% - Visual, photographic, and video materials