A night of honors

April 26 was a fine day.

It didn’t have anything to do with the weather. The Brewers may or may not have won. Brett Favre didn’t make any major announcements about his future in Green Bay, and, as far as I can tell, gas prices didn’t suddenly drop below the $2 mark.

But even free gas couldn’t have made the day any better for The Daily Reporter Publishing Co. That’s because April 26 was our annual Top Projects Awards Banquet.

For us, the event marked the culmination of months of planning and the unveiling of Wisconsin Builder’s annual Top Projects issue. More important, it gave us the opportunity to showcase 20 construction teams that staked their reputations on a wide range of projects.

As always, it was our honor to give them a feather to put in their caps. And, as always, we let loose a photographer into the cocktail hour and awards presentation to document the occasion. Click Here for the results of his work.

This year’s event — held at the Milwaukee Marriott West — drew about 250 attendees to what some people (me, for example) are calling one of the biggest celebrations in Wisconsin’s construction industry. Big is good. Bigger is better.

And with that in mind, our staff carried on another annual tradition of huddling up in the days following the event to brainstorm ways to improve our Top Projects. We kicked around a lot of ideas, but the one that kept rising to the top of the discussion focused on finding a way to honor every Top Projects entry.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: Every entry deserved recognition. Each project that passed through the judges’ hands represented in some way the best of the industry.

Top Projects is all about honoring your achievements, and it’s our responsibility to do just that. So as we continue planning for our 2007 event, we’ll also continue searching for the best way to honor all of your Top Projects.

We don’t have the answers yet, but we’re working on it. Meanwhile, if you have any Top Projects suggestions for us, I’d love to hear from you.

E-mail me at chris.thompson@dailyreporter.com or call 608-260-9790.