Sam Martin
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Information Specialist II, Iowa Lottery
Information Specialist Sam Martin has served on the Iowa Lottery’s external relations team since 2018, bringing a strong combination of storytelling, multimedia expertise and public-service commitment to the role.
Sam is a member of the Iowa Lottery's external relations team, serving as an Information Specialist since 2018. In his role, Sam serves as the primary public liaison between the Iowa Lottery, its players, the general public, members of the media, and beneficiary stakeholders. He is a passionate storyteller, multimedia content creator and strategist who excels at the attention to detail in lottery winners' interviews that always seems to find the fun anecdote, storyline or quip that captures the media's attention or goes viral on social media.
His tenure at the Lottery follows a successful career as a journalist, editor, and retail communications professional. This includes winning 15 Iowa Newspaper Association awards for his reporting, column writing, photography and graphic design.
While Sam's record of accomplishment extends far beyond the current year, two primary achievements during the recognition period are of particular distinction.
Generating Statewide and National Media Coverage for the Iowa Lottery's 40th Anniversary Guinness World Record Breaking event at the Iowa State Fair: The headline of the Des Moines Register called it "A Celebration 40 years in the Making" as the Iowa Lottery, on August 14, 2025, set a new Guinness World Record of 1,380 people simultaneously scratching a lottery scratch ticket. The event occurred at the iconic Iowa State Fair and generated widespread local, state and even national news coverage. Three local broadcast affiliates carried the moment LIVE during local newscasts, while the publicity before, during and after the event from July 31 through August 16 generated an estimated reach of 561 million. The Meltwater Estimated Advertising Value of this earned media exposure was approximately $5.1 million. Sam helped coordinate and flawlessly execute this once-in-a-lifetime.
Launch of the Iowa Lottery's "Win-ionaire" Brand Campaign: The Iowa Lottery executed its first extensive "brand refresh" in over a decade in early 2026, with a multimedia "Win-ionaire" campaign that encouraged Iowans to celebrate wins of any size at any time with the Iowa Lottery. The effort required extensive collaboration between the Lottery's external relations, sales and marketing teams along with outside media agency support. Sam was instrumental in advising and executing on the concept, including updating numerous public-facing Iowa Lottery assets that ranged from social media channels to news release formats to winner photo designs.
All of Sam's accomplishments have come against the backdrop of significant organizational change, where his professionalism, resilience and dedication demonstrate the best of public service. For these reasons and more, he is a worthy recipient of the 2026 Powers Award.
