Technician of the Year Award

• All FPTA member transit agencies in good standing are eligible to nominate a candidate. A technician from an outsourced vendor is eligible for nomination if the sponsoring agency is an FPTA member.
• The nominee should perform mechanical repairs, major or minor, to transit vehicles, their components or sub-components, with or without supervision. A minimum of 60% of the technician’s time must be devoted to vehicle maintenance. This includes bus technicians performing paint and body repair, unit rebuild of any component or sub-component, seat repair, etc.
• The nominee may be classified as a lead technician or working foreman providing his/her work time is at least 60% of hands-on mechanical repairs described above.
• Tire repair, maintenance service work including, but not limited to, bus washer, cleaner, hostler, janitor, and parts personnel are not eligible for nomination.

Each agency may submit (1) best overall candidate for consideration. There is no charge to submit an entry.

All entries must be submitted using an online entry form by 6:00pm (EDT) on Friday, June 26, 2026. Entries are date stamped automatically upon submission. FPTA allows 60 days for entry submissions therefore there will be no exceptions for late entries.

Please view the nomination form to view the full list of questions that is required. The majority of the form should be completed by the nominee’s direct supervisor and approved by the transit agency director. There are questions that the nominated technician will need to answer personally.

Each of the following questions will be answered separately on the online entry form. Maximum 800 characters (about 400 words) in length per question, including spaces and punctuation.

Questions for the supervisor:

1. How does this candidate make your agency’s shop better?

2. What has this candidate done to improve and become a better technician?

3. Describe how this candidate fosters good working relationships with others in the shop and at the agency.

4. Tell us about a time when the candidate disagreed with another technician relating to a bus repair. How did they resolve the difference of opinion?

Question for the candidate:

1. Summarize a situation when it was challenging for you to determine the root cause of a problem. And, the process you used to diagnose and identify the cause. 

A committee of experienced fleet maintenance professionals will judge the entries based on the information submitted. If the committee is unable to come to a consensus on the winning candidate they reserve the right to conduct candidate interviews. The interview will be conducted through an agreed upon virtual platform. Ample notification will be given to allow for scheduling of the interview and ensuring resources are available. Pre-determined questions will be asked related to job performance, maintenance abilities and transit fundamentals.

The top three candidates will be notified and invited to attend the FPTA Awards Banquet, held during the FPTA Annual Conference in Orlando from October 25-27, 2026. FPTA will pay for each of the top three candidates’ one day registration and hotel for one night.

The 2nd and 3rd place agency winners will be announced and provided with a framed certificate. The 1st place award will be presented to the winner on stage.

Please contact Amy Keys, FPTA at am*****@************it.org for questions related to the online entry process.
Please contact Tony Brandin, FDOT – Transit Office (FPTA “Principal Judge”) at To**********@**********fl.us for general questions about this awards process.