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Trumbull County Tourism earned three statewide honors during 2026 Ohio Travel Association's Annual Conference.
The organization also received Citations of Excellence for Momentum on the Mahoning in the Spirit of Community category and its We Love Trumbull blog series in the Blog category.
The RUBY Awards, sponsored by Ohio Magazine, recognize innovative tourism marketing, advertising, promotional work and visitor experiences from destinations and travel organizations across Ohio. Entries are judged on concept, creativity and results. The 2026 awards were presented Oct. 8 during the Ohio Conference on Travel in Wilmington.
Trumbull County Tourism's 2026 awards include:
HISTORIC WALKING
TOUR MAPS
Trumbull County Tourism's Historic Walking Tour Maps received a near-perfect judges' score to earn the RUBY Award in the Print Media category.
The self-guided series currently features Mesopotamia, Newton Falls and Warren's Millionaires' Row, giving visitors and residents an easy way to experience local architecture and history on their own schedule.
The custom illustrated maps combine local research, storytelling and practical walking routes, making historic districts accessible even when individual buildings are privately owned or not open for tours.
"Some of our best history is history you can stand next to," said Samantha Ensminger, marketing manager at Trumbull County Tourism. "These maps make it easier to get outside, slow down and understand the communities around you. They are great visitor tools, and they also give our own residents another reason to look at familiar places differently."
MOMENTUM ON THE MAHONING
For this community event Trumbull Tourism partners with Mayor Doug Franklin and the city of Warren to host Gov. Mike DeWine so he could experience the Mahoning River revitalization firsthand. It brought residents, local and state leaders and regional partners together around the Mahoning River and the ongoing work to reconnect communities with the waterway.
Programming highlighted river restoration, recreation, public investment and collaboration while giving participants a firsthand look at the changes taking place along the river corridor.
The recognition reflects a broader goal of Trumbull County Tourism's community engagement work: helping people experience local assets firsthand and better understand how tourism, quality of life, economic development and community investment connect.
WE LOVE TRUMBULL
The 2025 submission included stories such as Peppers in Oil, Newton Falls and its 44444 ZIP code, and Haunts & History, part of an ongoing effort to tell distinctly local stories about Trumbull County.
Trumbull Tourism's ongoing marketing efforts are designed to inspire a visit and enhance the image of Trumbull County, but also to create clear, useful online information that helps travelers, traditional search engines and emerging AI-powered search tools better understand what makes Trumbull County worth discovering.
The two additional finalist projects, the Italian Food Trail Passport and Trumbull County Tourism Economic Development Tours, represent different sides of the organization's work.
"To have our entries recognized says something about the range of work our team is doing and the stories we tell about Trumbull County," Ensminger said. "The awards are exciting, but these projects are created to do real work."
The Italian Food Trail connects visitors with more than 60 restaurants, markets and food businesses tied to Trumbull County's Italian food culture, while the Economic Development Tours bring community, business, workforce and government leaders inside companies and projects across the county to better understand the changes taking place locally.
Learn more about Trumbull County trip ideas, local stories, food trails, historic walking tours and places to stay at www.TrulyTrumbull.com.