In April 2018, the South-Southwest Suburban United Way awarded the Chicago Southland CVB with the first ever Community Award for their involvement and work with the April Food Day event.

In 2015, the marketing department descended upon Bloomington, Ind. for the annual Travel Media Showcase conference with one goal in mind: to get as many travel writers excited and inspired to visit the Chicago Southland as humanly possible. What they did not expect was to be met with overwhelmingly positive reviews about the staff and destination, only to be recognized with the 2015 Journalist Choice Award.