The 2023 Best Projects contest received nearly 100 entries from the seven-state region, garnering 56 awards across 20 categories.

Two projects rose to the top of the competition and were named Project of the Year: Colorado State University’s Spur Campus in Denver for projects in Colorado/Wyoming/Dakotas and the West Quarter in Salt Lake City for the Intermountain area. In addition, four projects were named Project of the Year Finalists: Chasing Rabbits, Vail, Colo.; Electric Pass Lodge, Snowmass, Colo.; Brighton High School, Cottonwood Heights, Utah; and the Primary Children’s Hospital Inpatient Remodel and Expansion, Salt Lake City.

annual awards program would not be possible without our judges, who spend hours reviewing the entries and discussing the merits of each project based on design and construction quality, contribution to the community and industry, and how they overcame unusual challenges through teamwork and innovation. Judges did not vote in categories that included projects in which they or their firms were involved.

This year’s judges for our 18 main categories were: Tara Bettale, HDR; Matt Betts, JE Dunn Construction; Jeremy Bringard, CRSA; Matt Cecere, 4240 Architecture; Becky Hawkins, Method Studio; Kristopher Kreymborg, JHL Constructors; Adam Mercer, RS&H; Will Peterson, AECOM; John Rehring, Carollo Engineers; and Courtney Tucker, GH Phipps.

Our team of safety judges reviewed the safety project entries, paying special attention to a project’s overall safety program, OSHA recordable incident rate, lost-time accident rate and total work hours on the job. We thank Daniel Milinazzo, Hensel Phelps Construction; Matt Ogle, JE Dunn Construction; and Rick Zellen, Zurich North America for sharing their time and safety expertise once again this year.

We also assembled a separate set of judges to determine the most sustainable projects in the Mountain States. Megan Boutin of Tryba Architects and Dennis Cigana with Jacobsen Construction chose two projects as this year’s Excellence in Sustainability winners.