Stephanie Chizik, Editor-in-Chief of CoatingsPro Magazine, joins Staff Writer Ben DuBose for this special preview of CoatingsPro's 2021 Contractor Awards program.

[This podcast was recorded in September 2020.]

[introductory comments]

Ben DuBose: Stephanie, good morning. How are you?

Stephanie Chizik: Good morning. Thanks for having me again.

BD: I’m guessing many of our listeners might be wondering, Why is Stephanie going from interviewer to interviewee? Typically, of course, the way we’ve done this CoatingsPro interview series is Stephanie hosts one week and I host the next.

The reason that this is a little different is that today, our topic of choice for the podcast is the CoatingsPro Contractor Awards, and Stephanie plays a big role in leading and organizing that program. For the 2021 Contractor Awards, the nomination deadline is coming up in November. For those of you who also listen to our Materials Performance interview series, you may recall that, a few weeks ago, we had a similar episode previewing the Corrosion Innovation Awards. The goal in these types of episodes is to give you, as our listeners, some information regarding the award program and some inside tips about how to best position you or your company to potentially win and reap some of the benefits.

As far as the Contractor Awards, let’s start with a little bit of background. Stephanie, for anyone that’s not aware, tell us a little bit more about the program, when did it start, what’s the goal for the industry? Just some background information about how the current CoatingsPro Contractor Awards came to be.

SC: We started the program in 2016 to coincide with CoatingsPro’s 15-year anniversary. Those people were awarded in 2017 in New Orleans at the annual CORROSION show that we have every year. Just a little bit of background about the why, is we just wanted to make sure that we were giving a chance to acknowledge the contractors who are showing exemplary work in the field, who go above and beyond, and give them a chance to be acknowledged. Obviously, CoatingsPro’s a real-world magazine. We try to show what’s going on in the field. So this gave us an ability to do that as well in a way that acknowledges them from their peers.

BD: What are the benefits that a winner gets? I know there’s a custom trophy, there’s the ceremony either at CORROSION or, of course, this year we had the virtual ceremony and we live streamed those as well. There’s a lot of superficial perks like that. Beyond that, explain how this program can help boost the profile of the contractors who win. This can be in regard to impacts that it has on their bottom line, the credibility that it gives them in the industry. Beyond the award itself, what does this program potentially mean for a contractor?

SC: I will say one of the other things we include in the winners package is that we create logos for them to be able to use in their emails and marketing collateral. That kind of ties into what the larger scope of it is that you’re talking to, which is the recognition that they’re getting from their peers. They’re able to then use that in collateral when they reach out to new or existing customers and clients.

We’ve definitely heard some good feedback from previous winners, that the collateral that they’re getting to be able to market this, as award winners, that they’re using that and showing those potential clients that they’ve been recognized in the field by an international magazine, by their peers. That’s gone a long way for them to help tout their own work, which is great feedback that we’ve heard as well.

BD: Who is it that’s grading these awards? I’m guessing that, like our Corrosion Innovation Awards on the MP side, the names aren’t disclosed because certainly you want to prevent person outreach. Talk, if you could, about the qualifications of the people who are looking at these projects that get submitted.

SC: Our awards are judged by our Editorial Advisory Group, which is made up of five different subject matter experts that cross the coatings industry. Those people vary from year to year, and they judge the awards in two different rounds. You’re right, I do think that it comes from those experts in the field who have awareness of what’s going on, what is special about projects. They can judge the different challenges and see if something actually is above and beyond, better than the CoatingsPro staff could, which is great. If you really wanted to dig around and find out who those people are, you could. But it’s just a good cross section of the subject matter experts in the field.

BD: Having organized the judging panel in the past, what kind of tips do you have for what usually stands out to them? With regard to the judges, what types of answers or information on the nomination forms are they looking for that could make a project or a crew member really stand out?

SC: I love this question, Ben. What I’ve noticed over the years — because I’m the one who’s been collecting all of the material to then parcel it out to our judges — what I’ve noticed is a lot of the notes that we’re getting from the judges for the award-winning projects seem to —. Well, first of all, they have to check all of those very basic boxes. Is it submitted in the correct time frame? Did you fill out all of the proper forms? Those kinds of things. That’s just the basics.

What I’ve also noticed is, Do the photos match what you’re saying on the submission form? For example, if you’re saying that the contractors are following safety protocol per OSHA — they’re wearing safety goggles, they’re wearing harnesses if it’s work at heights, those kinds of things — and then the photos don’t show that, the judges are going to notice that. They read the submissions, and they look at the photos. I think that’s a big one. Make sure that the submission information is matching up with those high-res photos. The photos in general probably would be really helpful as well. A picture can say a lot more than maybe your submission could, so I think that could be really helpful to have something that resonates visually as well as with the text that you’re sending.

I would also say spelling out what makes this project special. That could be anything from that you used some innovation on the project, you had to overcome a challenge with communicating with the client. Look at your project and see what it is that could be special. Every project has something special. You just have to look at it from a different point of view probably and be able to spell that out. At the end of the day, I would say we’re just looking for successful projects. Be able to explain how it was that you reached that success at the end of the day.

BD: One thing, when you were answering that, that jumped out to me — and I should have mentioned this earlier when we were looking at the benefits — but when these nomination forms get sent in, one of the benefits that I often see as a staff writer, we can use these nomination forms as the backbone for future stories.

What we do at CoatingsPro, the backbone is the case studies of application projects being completed successfully. Of course, that helps brand these contractors as experts within the industry, within the field. One thing that I’ve see a lot is that a really good nomination form should also be able to serve as, potentially, a Job-at-a-Glance — that is what we call it, that’s an inside baseball term for many of our listeners. But for those of us at CoatingsPro who write these stories, that’s another potential benefit, is that your project can also be — be it web, print, whatever, one of our platforms at CoatingsPro — a future story that can show off your work.

That’s something that I think can help as you’re putting that form together. It should be fairly similar to what we use the Job-at-a-Glance side when we’re putting together a feature story. I think that’s something that, potentially, is an underrated benefit because we use these all the time to pull from for our next stories for the coming months, year, however long the given cycle is. Do you see that parallel as well, that what you’re putting together for a normal story package — in all honestly, it feels similar to what you’re trying to convey in an awards nomination in terms of what makes this project unique, what makes it stand out, right?

SC: Yes, absolutely. That was designed on purpose so that we could potentially, like you’re saying —. To circle back, one of the major key points, benefits that people could potentially get from winning these awards, is that they could also then be featured in the magazine, whether that’s the roundup of all the award winners, which we usually include in the July issue, or it could also be what you’re saying, it’s own case history or feature story. Yes, absolutely, that was designed on purpose so that we would be able to continue to share the good news throughout the year of these award winners, either, like you said, online or in print articles. Which people really enjoy. Who doesn’t like to be featured in their own article of the challenges that you had to overcome and all of the hard work that the crews were able to do in the field, and all those kinds of great things?

We also, in those articles, if an award-winning project does turn into a case history, we try to include one of the logos that I mentioned earlier, to make sure that everyone is aware that this is an award-winning project and that, please, feel free to do the same and you might be able to be featured in the magazine as well. Kind of comes full circle. It’s great.

BD: I would also point out that it’s potentially a “kill two birds with one stone” situation. I know that many of our contractors listening, you guys are busy. I understand that. You’re not always able to take the time to sit down and fill out a JAAG (that’s short for Job-at-a-Glance) that can be fairly comprehensive. With this, if you submit an awards package, then in many ways it can be used both for the awards and a future story, depending on, of course, if it warrants it. Fortunately, many of our award-winning projects do.

I think, especially as the program has grown, you’ve seen a lot more projects that really stand out. I think that’s another good discussion point, Stephanie. Relative to when this started in the 2016 cycle, how much growth has there been in terms of the scope of the nominees. I’m sure it’s not just the overall number of projects, but in terms of the awareness from our contractors, the types of projects, how has this grown in terms of the types of projects that get awarded over the last few years?

SC: I would say you’re right. I do think there has been growth in the numbers as well as the quality of the projects that are submitted. I should add, it’s not just projects. We have a total of 16 awards. We’ve added a 17^th this year, which I’ll touch on in a second. Fifteen of those are project based. The 16^th one is an MVP. So one contractor or crew could win the MVP award. All of those I think have sort of grown over the past five years. We’re going on to our fifth annual year of the awards ceremony.

I’ve noticed an increase in the photo support. Obviously, everyone now has a cell phone with usually high-res capabilities on it, so that’s really great. It’s a lot easier to take those pictures to portray what’s going on in the field. We’ve also, last year we expanded the ability for people. We used to have only the contractors were able to submit awards. Now we’ve expanded as well. Like you just said, we recognize that the contractors are the people who are busy in the field, and so they might not get a chance to submit their own project, but it doesn’t mean that they’re any less deserving. If the manufacturer or quality control rep or inspector, someone wants to submit on behalf of the contractor, we’ve opened it up for that as well. Giving a little bit more flexibility has also helped us to improve the awards each year and help them grow.

BD: I would completely agree with that as an optimal strategy, because as someone that tries to collect some of the Job-at-a-Glance packages for these stories, sometimes the hardest thing with these contractors is to pin them down because you guys are busy. To many of our listeners, we understand that it’s not always easy to sit down for a finite period of time and fill out one of these packages. So we do want to make it flexible to where, even if you aren’t able to do it yourself, it makes sense to have someone else that’s in a position of authority on the project be able to submit it in those cases for the contractor. Because if they’re too busy, they should still be awarded if their work is worthy of that. Of course, in many cases, it absolutely is.

You touched on this already, Stephanie, but what categories are there? For anyone familiar with CoatingsPro, you should know that we look into steel projects, concrete, roofs. We do industrial. We do commercial. In terms of the awards, obviously, we want the program, the scope of it, to encompass that entire sphere of the protective coatings industry, what it means from an applicator’s perspective. But as far as what’s on the table for 2021, what you can nominate yourself or your company or someone for, what are the various categories and what’s new for this cycle?

SC: You’re right, everything that we do in CoatingsPro harkens back to what you just touched on. The 50% industrial and commercial. We also do concrete, steel, and roofing. The awards categories are Commercial Concrete, Commercial Roof, Industrial Concrete, Industrial Steel, Specialty Projects. I mentioned before the contractor or crew MVP.

Then new this year, we’ve also added something called Work It Safe. We had some feedback from one of our readers, and he’s more than that. He’s a safety guru and is quite instrumental in helping us be sure to be on top of all that’s going on in the field safety related. He suggested that we acknowledge a contractor in some way. We thought that was a great idea. It helps us to be proponents of a safe culture. This year we are adding a new award called the Work It Safe award, which will just acknowledge one of the already submitted projects, just like we do with the contractor/crew MVP. If you submit a project, then we can also consider that therefore for the Work It Safe project. Someone who’s going above and beyond in the safety scope of that project that they’re working on.

BD: Let’s talk about the timetable of all of this. As far as anyone interested in submitting, fill them in on not just what the deadline is, because I know that’s coming up in the next few weeks. But also moving forward, what’s the grading cycle like? When do the awards get announced? What’s the ceremony potentially for them next year? Just give the key dates moving forward as far as the 2021 Contractor Awards cycle.

SC: The award submissions themselves are going to be due November 15, 2020. That gives us enough time to have, like I said, the two rounds of judgments. We give our, well, six this year, judges a chance to review all of the awards in those two different rounds. I won’t get into those details. I don’t think that’s necessarily helpful for the people that are submitting.

But I will say that because we try to do all of that before the holidays kick in, that means that they basically have, I think the first round — I don’t have all the specific dates marked out yet, but I want to say the first round we usually try to do before the end of the calendar year. Then the second round I think we try to finish by the end of January. Again, we try to give them enough time because of the holidays that are going on. People might want to take off a week or two for either the end of the year or the beginning of the year. Then all of the award winners are announced at CORROSION 2021, and that’s going to be in Salt Lake City this year in April.

For those people who can’t join us in person, we do invite all of the award winners to join us and we try to let all of the vendors know as well, if they were mentioned on the submission, so that they know one of their contractors is being awarded one of these categories. If you can’t make it, we do live stream it on Facebook, share all that information on our website as well, so that you should be able to still participate even if you can’t make it to the show itself.

BD: That makes sense. The reason I mentioned the timeline, I’m the one that organizes a lot of this on the MP side, the Corrosion Innovation Awards, and one of the most popular questions that we get in our inbox as soon as the nomination period closes, wait a couple weeks, and you have people wanting to know the status of their nomination. That’s such a popular topic because they want to know when they win, and of course they want to know what the next step is, if they win, in terms of how are they honored, when, where. I think it makes sense to put all of that out in the open, as much of it as we can, before, so that hopefully people feel like they’re in the loop on how this process goes. Stephanie, before we close out, if anyone listening wants more information, if they have additional questions, what’s the best way that they can learn more about how to nominate or anything else regarding the 2021 Contractor Awards cycle?

SC: I would say the website is probably the best place to start. That’s www.coatingspromag.com. There’s specific information on there for our contractor awards. It’s pretty well visible in the Resources tab. If you have questions specifically, feel free to reach out to me. You could also reach out to our general mailbox, which is cpcontractorawards@coatingspromag.com. Find a way to touch base with us if you have any questions.

Like I said, the website is a really good starting point for all of those points that we mentioned today, the deadlines, the submission forms, those kinds of things. Yes, we’d love to see as many people who want to share their successful projects. It’s definitely a fun part of the job to get to help acknowledge these crews in the field. There’s a lot of hard work that’s going on, and it’s nice to be able to acknowledge them in some way.

BD: Sounds great.

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