Celebrating Quality Craftsmanship
The Washington Building Congress’ Annual Craftsmanship Awards Banquet was held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel on March 31, 2023. During the opening remarks, Bob Freas, WBC's 85th Chairman of the Board, welcomed the more than 950 commercial real estate industry professionals, spouses and friends in attendance.
More than 14,000 men and women have been individually honored over the past 66 years for their work on 3,500+ Craftsmanship Award winning entries.
To kick off the evening, two new WBC Craftsman Hall of Fame inductees were honored. Each year up to 5 craftsmen may be nominated by the Craftsmanship Awards Committee to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Established in 2008, the Hall of Fame currently has 46 exceptional members. The 2023 Hall of Fame inductees were:
This year 231 nominations were received in ten trade categories from sitework to finishes. Each entry was evaluated in January by a team made up of individuals with a wide range of industry experience. The judges represented a broad cross-section of the construction industry, including architects, interior designers, general contractors, subcontractors, construction consultants, and engineers. All evaluations were compiled, results tallied, and 76 winning entries were identified based upon the judge’s scoring.
Following selection of the award winners, a separate group of Star Awards judges representing different industry perspectives and disciplines evaluated the Star nominees. Star Award winning craftsmen encompass the key characteristics of all Craftsmanship Award winners and exhibit the highest level of focus on excellence. This year, nine remarkable entries were selected as Star Award nominees for demonstrating the highest level of quality and exceeding the awards criteria. From these, the Star Award winners for Visual Excellence, Technical Excellence and Excellence in the Face of Adversity were selected.
The Star Award for Excellence in the Face of Adversity was presented to Katey Corda, Maria Hardman, Geoffry Hemans, Brooke Russell, Nathan Silver and Mirta Vidal with EverGreene Architectural Arts for Painting and Wallcovering at National Air and Space Museum Revitalization project.
The Star Award for Technical Excellence was awarded to the team of Daniel Groht, Ryan Kroll, Ryan Kruckow, Justin Littleford, Michael Mosczczynski and Mark Scully with JE Richards for Power Generation, Distribution and Switchgear at Mets 6, 7, 8 project.
Finally, the Star Award for Visual Excellence was presented to Ricardo Acosta, Richard Bembe, Thu Bui, Jacob Burdette, Trung Ho and Freddy Lopez with Allegheny Millwork for Architectrual Millwork at the American Airlines Admirals Club, DCA Concouse E project.
HALL OF FAME, STAR AWARD VIDEOS & PICTURES:
Project: Project Cast Iron - J. Edgar Hoover Building
Mechanical: HVAC-Piping
Project: 55 H Street Georgetown Student Housing
Masonry: Exterior Stone
Project: Metro Tower (Hampton House)
Sitework: Underpinning, Foundations and Excavations
Project: National Air & Space Museum Revitalization
Finishes: Painting and Wallcovering
The Star Award for Excellence in the Face of Adversity
Project: Old City Hall Restoration
Masonry: Exterior Stone
Project: DCA Secure Hall Reagan National Airport
Finishes: Drywall
Project: Mets 6, 7, 8
Electrical: Power Generation, Distribution & Switchgear
The Star Award for Techical Excellence
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Information about the 2024 WBC Craftsmanship Awards should be available late September.