Long Island license plate depicting Montauk Lighthouse gets national recognition

The state's new Long Island regional license plate depicting an East End scene has earned national recognition for its beauty and celebration of the area’s maritime culture.

The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association awarded the plate, which shows an image of the Montauk Point Lighthouse, its "Best Plate" award for 2023.

The Virginia-based license plate collectors association has honored license plates with the annual award since 1970. The Long Island regional plate is the first of New York’s more than 200 custom plate designs to earn the international hobbyist organization’s annual honor.

"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," ALPCA President Cyndi McCabe said in a news release.

The state Department of Motor Vehicles unveiled the award-winning aluminum in June 2023 as one in a series of license plates showcasing New York’s 10 regions. As of Aug. 2, 1,523 New York drivers had purchased the Long Island plate depicting the nation’s fourth-oldest working lighthouse, according to a state spokesperson.

Other regional plates drivers can order include Western New York, which depicts a purple-hued Niagara Falls scape, New York City, boasting the Statue of Liberty and One World Trade Center among other fixtures of the metropolitan skyline, and the Finger Lakes, adorned with an autumn-tinged landscape.

"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 DMV 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."

According to ALPCA, the plate showcasing the National Historic Landmark was one of 21 nominated for the honor out of more than 100 new plates issued worldwide last year. Since its creation in 1954, ALPCA has grown its ranks to 4,000 members across all 50 United States and 18 additional countries.