Alpca Awards New York Top Honors For License Plate Design

ALBANY, N.Y. - Aug. 8, 2024 - PRLog -- The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association (ALPCA) today announced that New York's Long Island regional license plate, depicting the iconic Montauk Point Lighthouse, won the Association's Best Plate Award for 2023. This prestigious honor began in the 1970's and has been awarded annually.

The Long Island regional plate, which the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) unveiled in June 2023 as part of a series of plates showcasing New York's 10 regions, was one of 21 plates nominated out of more than 100 new plates issued worldwide last year. For the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association's nearly 4,000 members, the full-color New York plate featuring Long Island's stunning coastline and New York's first lighthouse topped the field.

"Congratulations to the state of New York for winning the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association's 2023 Best Plate Award for their Long Island regional license plate," said ALPCA President Cyndi McCabe. "Besides the legibility and the sheer beauty of the license plate, I was personally taken by how the Montauk license plate encapsulates the region's rich maritime heritage, blending the iconic lighthouse symbolizing coastal navigation with the broader tapestry of Long Island's history and culture."

This marks the first time one of New York's more than 200 custom plate designs has earned the international hobbyist organization's annual honor. A list of previous winners is available on ALPCA's website.

"We created our new regional plates so drivers across this great state could show pride for the place they call home, or any area they have a particular fondness for," said New York State Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner and Chair of the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee Mark J.F. Schroeder. "While every corner of New York has its own distinct and defining characteristics worth celebrating, Long Islanders deserve to feel some extra pride today as the Montauk Point plate garners recognition befitting its beautiful design."

ALPCA representatives presented the award today at DMV's headquarters in Albany to Commissioner Schroeder and the DMV staff members responsible for designing the plate and making it available for sale. Since the plate went on sale last June, it has been purchased by more than 1,500 New York drivers.

The lighthouse featured on the plate has earned its own accolades as one of just 12 lighthouses to be named a National Historic Landmark. The Montauk beacon received that honor in 2012, 220 years after President George Washington commissioned it in 1792. The coastal tower remains the fourth-oldest working lighthouse in the country and was the first lighthouse ever built in New York.

About ALPCA

Since 1954, ALPCA has promoted license plate collecting and research, the exchange of information and plates, and the fraternal benefits of sharing a common interest with others throughout the world. With nearly 4,000 members from 50 states and 19 countries, ALPCA is the largest license plate hobbyist organization in the world.