Craftsmanship Awards honor Ohio’s best

Ohio Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel delivers the keynote speech at the annual Building Excellence and Craftsmanship Awards, which took place on Aug. 21 at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Journeymen, apprentices and contractors from the Northeast Ohio union construction industry gathered at Cleveland Browns Stadium for the annual event honoring the region’s best.

The annual Building Excellence and Craftsmanship Awards was held on Aug. 21 to honor those who built and re-built the region.

With an announced crowd of over 600 in attendance, former Ohio State University Head Football Coach and current Ohio Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, gave the keynote speech.

The five-time national championship coach cracked a few jokes about his journey to becoming second in command to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, while speaking about the need to take advantage of the current construction boom.

“The pendulum is swinging back to Ohio,” he said. “63 companies have moved to Ohio since the creation of Jobs Ohio.”

Tressel stressed the need to keep building up Ohio’s workforce, including the construction industry.

Then, as if getting into coach’s mode, he began to motivate the audience.

“We are poised to make excellent things happen,” he said. “Tonight, we honor those who do extraordinary work.

“We still must find ways to increase your excellence every day,” Tressel said. “We have an opportunity to and need to increase our excellence to increase our opportunities. It’s here, and we need to take advantage of the opportunities.”

Following Tressel’s speech, Cleveland Building Trades and Construction Council Executive Secretary/Business Manager Dave Wondolowski handed out the Apprentice of the Year awards.

Then, Bill Nails, who serves as CBCTC Sergeant-at-Arms and Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons Local 526 Business Representative, handed out the Craftsmanship Awards.

A video introduced each individual Craftsmanship award and discussed the challenges faced on each project and explained how the challenges were overcome.

Glen Shumate, Executive Vice President of the Construction Employers Association, handed out the Building Excellence Awards to the contractors.