Excitement is building about this year’s VRCA Awards of Excellence program.  This year we had over 240 entries in 65 different projects, worth over $2 billion dollars.  The judges were impressed with the quality of all entries and were hard-pressed to select just three Silver Award winners in most categories.

It is exciting to sit through some of the judging and to visit the sites that are up for consideration.  Clearly there is great pride on the part of the contractors and their workers when a project is being considered for an award.  It is great to see the ingenuity and creativity exhibited by our members as they work to bring simple drawings on a page into concrete reality.   It is also sobering to realize the tremendous risk inherent in these projects as contractors strive to bring them in on time and on budget, in the vast majority of instances successfully.

Winning a VRCA Award of Excellence gives the recipient many rewards.  Firstly, great pride can be taken from being recognized by one’s peers for pulling together an outstanding project.  The industry appreciates the complexities and challenges that face contractor s and to have your project recognized is a testament to the contractor.

Secondly, recipients of an Award of Excellence often use the occasion to recognize the hard work and dedication of their workers.  This is a great opportunity for contractors to celebrate team work and commitment on the part of everyone from the management to the estimators, project managers, site superintendents and the tradespeople who put it all together.

Thirdly, winning a VRCA Award of Excellence is a great promotional tool that contractors can use to showcase their work to future clients and the design community.  Successfully bringing a complex project to fruition and being recognized by one’s peers can often be the deciding factor in determining who gets the next project.

Click here to view 2009 Awards of Excellence Silver Award Winners