AUSTIN (KXAN) — Student leaders from the University of Texas went to Washington D.C. on Tuesday to accept an award for increasing campus voter participation by over 37% since the last election.

The students were a part of the voting organization, TX Votes, that helped increase UT’s voting rate to 54.8%. Voting rate among students also increased from 23.5% in 2014 to 65.6% in 2018.

The school and a few students were recognized by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge which highlights excellence in student voter engagement.

UT received the Platinum Seal which is given to campuses that had at least 50% voter participation during the 2018 Midterm Election.

UT also received the Best in Class award for having the most improved voting rating among large public universities.

Maya Patel, former TX Vote president, was on the Student Honor Roll, and Kassie Phebillo, TX Votes program coordinator, received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award.

“UT Austin’s voter engagement is on an upward trajectory thanks to student-led efforts to make voting easy and accessible,” Phebillo said. “Without the work of hundreds of Longhorns registering, educating, and encouraging their peers to vote, we would not be celebrating today.”

TX Vote helped resister nearly 7,000 of the almost 14,000 students registered to vote by the UT Austin Civic Engagement Alliance. Members of the organization went into over 250 classrooms to register and inform students.