ENR Northwest Best Projects Wow Industry Judges
More than 50 projects were submitted for judging in this year’s competition

The Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion earned an award of merit in the sports/entertainment category.
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See the Projects
ENR West’s Northwest Best Projects competition honors an array of work from across Washington, Oregon and Alaska that displays dynamic and innovative design and construction methods. This year’s entries featured a collection of exemplary projects, including ambitious health care projects, inspired sustainability efforts and an assortment of impressive transportation and infrastructure improvements.
More than 50 projects were submitted for judging in this year’s competition. An independent panel of judges selected 33 of those for recognition—15 Best Projects and 18 awards of merit.
Judges from all corners of the AEC community spent weeks reviewing entries for achievement in five areas: project challenges and solutions, safety programs, innovative design and construction solutions, contribution to the construction industry and the community as well as design quality and craftsmanship. Projects were ineligible for an award if they had a construction-related death.
During the course of a month, the projects were independently reviewed, scored on specific criteria and then discussed in a virtual gathering with fellow judges to finalize choices for Best Projects, awards of merit and Project of the Year. Judges were asked to recuse themselves in cases of conflict of interest.
The new TikTok USDS office in Bellevue, Wash., was named a Best Project in the office/retail/mixed-use category.
Photo by Benny Chan
Judging Panels
Special thanks go out to this year’s team of judges:
- Sam Holden, project executive, Skanska USA Building
- Danica Mason, principal, Red Team Go!
- Victor Nuñez, business development manager, Turner Construction
- Anne Timmermans, senior consultant, Parametrix
- Aaron Yohnke, vice president corporate services, PCL Construction
Best Project-level winners will now advance to the national contest, where they will compete with the winners from nine other regions for ENR’s Best of the Best awards. Judging for the national contest will begin later this year, and the results will be announced in early 2026.
Judges selected Seattle’s First Light as the Best Project in the residential/hospitality category.
Photo by Moris Moreno
Excellence in Safety and Sustainability
This year’s contest also features two special awards for each subregion: Excellence in Safety, which has been a part of the competition for over a decade, and Excellence in Sustainability, which is in its fourth year. The judges recognized three safety winners and two sustainability winners.
The judge of the sustainability contest was Pooja Sannamani, senior associate, sustainable buildings and infrastructure lead at AECOM, and the safety contest was judged by Susan Delaney, CEO, Delaney Safety.
In addition to selecting category winners, judges for the main competition also chose three projects from the Northwest region for consideration as Project of the Year, the regional contest’s highest honor.
The Northwest Project of the Year Finalists were the Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, St. Francis Family Birth Center (Best Project in the health care category) and MAX Red Line Extension and Reliability Improvements Project (Best Project for renovation/restoration and Excellence in Safety). The Northwest Project of the Year is La Plaza Esperanza (Best Project in the cultural/worship category).
The winning project teams will be recognized Dec. 16 in Seattle at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel.
The Projects
Northwest Best Projects
- Project of the Year: Mass Timber Center Aims to Foster Community Culture
- Project of the Year Finalist, Best Health Care: Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, St. Francis Family Birth Center
- Project of the Year Finalist, Excellence in Safety, Best Renovation/Restoration: MAX Red Line Extension and Reliability Improvements Project
- Best Airport/Transit: Lynnwood Link Extension
- Award of Merit, Cultural/Worship: Multnomah County Midland Library
- Best Energy/Industrial: Hydrogen Production and Fueling Facility
- Award of Merit, Energy/Industrial: Project Murphy
- Best Government/Public Building, Excellence in Safety: Clackamas County Circuit Courthouse
- Best Higher Education/Research, Excellence in Sustainability: Washington State University Vancouver Life Sciences Building
- Award of Merit, Higher Education: University of Washington Interdisciplinary Engineering Building
- Best Highway/Bridge, Excellence in Safety: NE 8th Street Eastrail Crossing
- Award of Merit, Highway/Bridge: I-5 over SW 26th Ave. Bridge Replacement
- Award of Merit, Interior/Tenant Improvement: Lane Powell Tenant Improvement
- Award of Merit, K-12 Education: Washington School for the Deaf, Divine Academic and Hunter Gymnasium
- Best Landscape/Urban Development: Parklane Park
- Best Office/Retail/Mixed-Use: TikTok USDS Bellevue
- Award of Merit, Office/Retail/Mixed-Use: Splash
- Award of Merit, Renovation/Restoration, Excellence in Sustainability: BNBuilders Headquarters
- Best Residential/Hospitality: First Light
- Award of Merit, Residential/Hospitality: The Confidential
- Best Small Project: North Unit Irrigation District (NUID) 43 Lateral Segment 2 Piping Project
- Award of Merit, Small Project: Round Butte Dam Spillway Tunnel Aerator
- Best Specialty Construction: Portland UG Network Willamette River Crossing
- Award of Merit, Specialty Construction: Concrete Technology Corp. Graving Dry Dock Caisson Gate
- Best Sustainability, Award of Merit, Higher Education/Research: Western Washington University Kaiser Borsari Hall
- Award of Merit, Sports/Entertainment: Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion
- Best Water/Environment: Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station


