The 2018 Best Projects competition in the Mountain States featured more than 120 entries, the highest number of submissions ever. Projects were judged on design and construction quality, contribution to the community and the industry and how they overcame unusual challenges through teamwork and innovation.

To be eligible, projects had to be in any of the seven states comprising the Mountain States region: Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota and South Dakota. Projects with a construction-related fatality on the jobsite were not allowed to enter.

This year’s Best Projects judges were: Colby Barrett, president, GeoStabilization International; Michelle Black, professional engineer, Martin/Martin Inc.; Cynthia Fishman, founder and director, The Biomimicry Collaborative; Samantha Hamilton, virtual design and construction manager, Encore Electric; Sabine Huynen Hoover, content director, FMI Corp.; Kelley Huss, integrated project manager, ICI; Dustin Keyes, project manager, Sletten Construction; Sarah Marvez, architect, Gensler; and Jeff Wellen, projects director, Halker Consulting LLC.

The 2018 safety awards judges are veterans from previous years’ panels: John Hymel, principal, Sentinel Safety Consultants; Tim Batz, risk control team leader, IMA Inc.; and Rick Zellen, senior risk engineer, Zurich North America.

In addition to the category winners, judges chose by consensus one project from the Colorado and Wyoming side and one from the Intermountain area to stand as Projects of the Year—entries that clearly outdistanced other winners. Those awards will be announced at the awards events on Oct. 23 (Salt Lake City) and Oct. 25 (Denver).

Project of the Year finalists included, on the Colorado side: 1144 15th Street Office Building, the Kirkland Museum in Denver and the Permanent Repairs Project on U.S. Highway 34 in Big Thompson Canyon. For the Intermountain region, the finalists are the Hale Centre Theatre, the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine in Meridian, Idaho, and the renovation of Ogden Weber Applied Technology College in Ogden, Utah.