It’s been a good year!

By Julie Jahnke
Chairman of ABC of Wisconsin

Tonight we celebrate the Projects of Distinction for 2006. Out of 51 entries our judges selected 23 winners and two merit winners to present to you. When you look through this magazine you will see some great projects done by our very professional members and in some cases their subcontractors. One of these winners used 20 other ABC members on their project which speaks highly of that company’s dedication to the merit shop philosophy.

ABC of Wisconsin has one the most successful awards program in the nation thanks to our member’s efforts to participate. It is not easy to enter the Projects of Distinction. For some it might be a year long process of taking pictures, making sure of documentation and finally assembling it all in a professional presentation so that our judges can determine if it is the winner. It can be a humbling experience when you find that you did not win, even when you felt that it was indeed a winner.

We are very proud of all the members who entered this year’s Projects of Distinction. It is an honor to hand out these awards tonight and I hope to see everyone continue to enter and participate for years to come.

At this point we need to thank some very important individuals and companies in this year's program.

Our award judges put in many long hours of work to select the “Best of the Best”. This year's excellent judging panel included:

Ludwig Ridder, Ridder Design
Marc Shelstrom, UW Platteville
Mitchell Spencer, UW Stout
Chris Thompson, The Daily Reporter
Clair Urbain, Contractor – Tools & Supplies Magazine
Jon Waldhuetter, Moraine Park Technical College
And finally, our Projects of Distinction awards program wouldn’t be the success that it is without the support and dedication from our sponsors:

Platinum Sponsors
Clifton Gunderson LLP
Grant Thornton LLP
J.J. Keller & Associates, Inc.

Gold Sponsors
Enterprise Fleet Services
LYCON, Inc.
Mortenson Matzelle & Meldrum
Smith & Gesteland CPA’s & Business Consultants
Tradesmen International
Virchow Krause & Company, LLP

Bronze Sponsors
Security Insurance
The Daily Reporter
Town & Country Electric
Vendura Industries

Please make it a point to thank the individuals from these companies who make our awards program so successful.