Entries for this year’s annual Best Projects competition in the Mountain States region (and all other regions across the U.S.) opens on May 8, using an online entry system similar to last year’s. Here are some of the criteria to help you decide what projects to consider and how to enter them:

• Project sites must be located in any of the five states comprising the Mountain States region: Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, with an extended reach allowing for entries from Kansas, Nebraska and North Dakota and South Dakota.

• There is no limit to the number of projects each firm or person can submit.

• Entries may come from any member of a project team—owners, designers, contractors, subs or suppliers—but we encourage team members to get together and submit joint entries for the same project, rather than attempting multiple entries (and that’s especially true for large projects, where there may be many players involved)—unless those entries are specifically aimed at different aspects of the project in different categories. For a list of the possible categories, go to our Best Projects landing page: http://enr.construction.com/BestProjects/2013/  
From there you can link to the web entry portal after it goes live on May 8. All entries must be submitted online through the portal.

• Projects must be or will be completed between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013.

• Any project with a construction-related fatality, regardless of designer, contractor or trade, is not eligible.

• The deadline for all entries is July 1, 2013.  Judging will take place during July and August. Winners will be announced at the Best Projects awards events held in both Salt Lake City and Denver in late October.

• Entries are FREE until May 24. After that, there will be a $50 fee for each entry, so get them in early!

• To enter, go to the Best Projects landing page at: http://enr.construction.com/BestProjects/2013/

As in past years, entries will be judged by a panel of independent industry experts on how well the projects overcame challenges through the use of teamwork and innovation, their contribution to the community or the industry and, of course, the quality of the finished product. Judges will also be asked to consider safety, the function and the aesthetic nature of the design, and other considerations. Complete judging criteria are listed on the Best Projects landing page.
After all tallies are in, and the category winners are selected, the judges will also choose by consensus one project from Colorado and the Plains states and one from the Intermountain area (Utah, Idaho and Montana) to stand as the Best Overall Projects of the region, ones that clearly stand above the rest of the winners.
Last year in Colorado that honor went to Denver’s Clyfford Still Museum, and in the Intermountain area, the Best Overall project was the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City, which also won national Best Project honors for its team.
So, enter early (and often), up until July 1, at: http://enr.construction.com/BestProjects/2013/
Please call me at 303-526-0620 with questions, or e-mail me at: mark.shaw@mhfi.com.
Good luck and thanks in advance for entering this year’s Best Projects competition in the Mountain States.