The judges for ENR New York's 2021 Top Young Professionals contest had the enviable problem of reading all about 53 impressive architects, engineers and construction professionals nominated this year, then whittling the list down to the Top 20.

From there, the Top Young Pros from each region will move on to the national 20 Under 40 competition. Winners from that contest will be announced in late November, so stay tuned!

The Top Young Pros from New Jersey and New York will be featured in the January 2021 issue of ENR New York. Then on Feb. 24-26, something new: Engineering News-Record will hold its first Top Young Professionals Virtual Conference, which will feature expert keynotes, panel discussions, workshops and networking opportunities.

Before we get to it, I want to thank our judges, who diligently reviewed all entries and thoughtfully discussed the final 20 winners. They are, in alphabetical order by first name:

• Charlie Copeland, president and CEO of Goldman Copeland and the 2020 winner of ENR New York's Legacy Award.
• Heather Groff, director of interior architecture and design at Ware Malcomb and a member of ENR New York's 2019 Top Young Professionals cohort.
• Omotoye Omoniyi, lead superintendent at Gilbane Building Co.

And now, in alphabetical order by first name, here's the region's Top Young Pros Class of 2021:

1. Abel Plazola, principal, founder and owner, P. Max Engineering
2. Alison Auriemmo, senior discipline engineer, H2M architects + engineers
3. April Schneider, associate, Stantec
4. Atul Paralkar, director of controls, Holt Construction Co.
5. Daniel Forino, director, Horizon Engineering Associates
6. Daniel H. Warren, senior project manager, TRC
7. David Margolius, executive vice president of the New York metro region, Shawmut Design and Construction
8. Eric Hirani, president, Infinite Consulting Corp.
9. Gary Dragona, senior project manager, AECOM Tishman
10. James M. Vignola, director of technical design and structural team leader, RAND Engineering & Architecture DPC
11. Jeremy Billig, president, McLaren Engineering Group
12. John Grillo, John Grillo, project executive, Keller
13. Kenneth Wasserman, NYC office of rail department operations lead, HNTB Corp.
14. Martin Downs, president, J. Fletcher Creamer & Son Inc.
15. Michael Nilson, senior associate and vice president, Langan
16. Michelle Butler, transmission and distribution project manager, Burns & McDonnell
17. Robert M. D’Onofrio, vice president, Capital Project Management Inc.
18. Schillivia Baptiste, CEO, Laland Baptiste
19. Silverio Patrizi, senior associate, Thornton Tomasetti
20. Victoria Scala, president, Lowy and Donnath Inc.