As Good as Gold, Say Gold Nugget Award Winners as They Talk About Nation's Largest and Oldest Design/Planning Competition

LOS ANGELES, CA, March 11, 2011 (Press-News.org) In its 48th year, the Gold Nugget Awards (GNA) program is obviously venerable. How has it lasted?

Promotional messages talk of innovations, rewards, credibility and high integrity. Annual submissions demonstrate plenty of brawn behind this brag.

Example: Entrants can pursue honors for housing designs and for commercial and land planning achievements, with submissions invited from throughout the United State and abroad.

Example: Residential winners may win the discretionary "Home of the Year" honor. And via the discretionary Judges Special Award of Excellence, any type of submission may be noted for a project that does not quite fit regular categories.

Opportunities are thus ample. Reasons to enter are too, yet they boil down to the shared conviction that benefits outstrip costs. In any business cycle, entrants find "award-winning" to have undeniable branding power, with avenues for strengthening operations and strategic plans.

Brand Value

"In our markets, everything we do to strengthen buyer understanding of the value we offer is important, and we are extremely proud to showcase our Merit and Grand honors in this competition," says Joyce Mason, vice president of marketing for Pardee Homes. "Having a design we can point to as an award winner adds value to the home we are selling--and buyers recognize the Gold Nugget Award as a testament to that value."

Name Recognition

"These awards are so competitive that when you win you know your project is among the best and not just in the western U.S.," says Chip Pierson, principal of Dahlin Group Architecture Planning in Pleasanton. "Gold Nugget recognition is also sought after by all of our clients in the Far East. In all of our markets, it's the culmination of a great project and the best 'pat on the back' we can get."

"I don't know anything better for a fresh face to get noticed and recognized; this is the program we started with," says Mark Scheurer, principal of Scheurer Architects in Newport Beach. "And I have yet to meet a client who does not promote a Gold Nugget Award, which is the imprimatur of product that is a notch above the competition."

Seattle-based Mithun agrees. "The national prominence we now enjoy has much to do with the broad recognition that our Gold Nugget winning projects receive from ceremonies attendees, and in the housing industry's top publications," says Mithun Principal Bill Kreager. "To be chosen from such strong competition is an honor indeed, with marketing benefits we can take to the bank!"

Relevance

Categories relate to real-world development issues and each year, prospective entrants find fresh opportunities and ease-of-use changes. This year the awards encompass all 50 states. The entry process is entirely online, helping to keep costs down by eliminating photo prints and reducing the labor needed to create a portfolio.

International entries cover on-the-boards, residential and commercial work and site planning. "U.S. architects and developers have gone global," explains Peter Mayer, Judging Chairman and producer of the Gold Nugget Awards celebration at PCBC. "Expanded international categories address this trend."

Pioneered by GNA in 1996, green and sustainable categories now cover Green/Sustainable Community, the California Advantage Home and GreenPoint Rated Community. Site planning covers infill, re-development and on the boards. Adaptive Re-Use amplifies housing categories. The Building Industry Community Spirit Award honors pro bono projects that builders, architects and colleagues undertake to assist a broad range of service agencies and organizations. The list goes on.

"Gold Nugget categories correlate with the areas of concentration for our various studios, such as urban design, mid-rise, affordable housing, 50+, high density single-family, custom and retail," says KTGY Group Principal Jill Williams. "Awards in these slots have really helped us strengthen our reputation in a wide range of project types."

Design Only

"Gold Nuggets are the purest of the product awards, in part because there are no marketing categories," says Dave Steinke, general manager of Infinity Home Collection in Denver. "They are judged by architects, the really great ones. Winners are talked about and visited and photographed and dissected by professionals who know what they are looking at."

Judges from architectural, planning, building and developing perspectives match the range of categories. "Judging shows no geographical prejudice," says Steinke, a GNA winner and judge. "A project is either a winner or it isn't, and it's a winner because it earned the collective respect of the best architects in the country, not because of where it was built."

Professional Growth

"If you are interested in self-improvement and advancement in design, then you are interested in Gold Nugget," says Aram Bassenian, President of Bassenian/Lagoni Architects in Newport Beach. "GNA is respected throughout the country and internationally, and it's a consistent standard for our industry, telling us where we stand--and where we might need to make improvements."

Professional pride is a prime motivator, agrees Barry Berkus, founder of B3 Designs/A Berkus Design Studio. "The firms that enter want to let colleagues know what they are proud of and acclaim from your peers is very gratifying," he says. "The firms that are interested in advancing the field of architecture and planning, are helping this advancement by winning. The public learns about the honors, magazines show the good work, and ultimately, the good work makes a difference to the people who live in our houses and enjoy our communities.

"Superior solutions to today's economic and social dynamics can help solve marketing problems," he adds. "The Gold Nuggets offer a terrific arena for showcasing product that solves problems."

"It really is a remarkable thing when a little builder from Denver wins a Gold Nugget Award," concludes Steinke. "It means we could produce something really, really good, gain the respect of the best of the best, and be counted among the few."

See www.goldnuggetawards.com. Contact Lisa Parrish at 800-658-2751 or write to Gold Nugget Awards, 10416 Hamilton St., Alta Loma, CA 91701. Email: lparrish@thenationals.com.