The annual competition was, once a cumbersome effort on the part of many, scurrying to get approval for images and text and branding all packaged into a binder to deliver to our editorial offices–no deadline extensions, no exceptions. The transition to an all-digital platform this year for all submissions–including photos–was done through McGraw-Hill Construction’s online system.

Last year, the winners of best in category awards for each McGraw-Hill Construction Regional Construction Publication were eligible to compete in a national competition in conjunction with Engineering News-Record. This year’s categories were aligned to better match the entries across the regional competition.

Some of those categories are familiar and some new. They include: civil/public works; cultural; government/public buildings; green buildings; small projects; and specialty contracting.

On the following pages are snapshots of our judges picks for overall excellence, the esteemed Judges Award; the best in each category, known as “Best Of” Awards as well as Excellence Award winners, and introducing the new “special categories”; Best Architecture, Best Engineering and Best Project Management. Those are additional recognition to entries that received other honors in the competition.

We thank this year’s panel for its careful consideration and industry expertise.

In addition to determining all winning projects, the panel chose the top project overall for the Judges Award—a tie this year between two industrial Gulf Coast projects that faced similar challenges: The NRG Cedar Bayou project in Baytown, submitted by Zachry; and the Golden Pass LNG terminal in Sabine Pass submitted by Baker Concrete Construction.