Selecting the photos for ENR’s  annual Year in Construction winners gallery offered lessons about the intersection of work, safety, beauty and construction. Our judges studied and discussed almost 900 images in a single session, and the insights flowing were instructive and exciting.

Our safety expert this year was Robert Kipp, director of field operations and general superintendent with Satterfield and Pontikes, construction manager for Delta Airline’s $4-billion renovation program at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. (See our editorial on safety on p. 64.)

The panel also included Patrick Cashin, long-time photographer for the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority—who also has landed photos in the winners gallery many times­—and Randi Klett, photo director of IEEE Spectrum Magazine, the publication of the electrical engineers association, and co-creator of Spectrum’s robots guide.

Internal judging slots were filled by Mike Powell, corporate creative director for ENR’s Troy, Mich.-based parent company, BNP Media, and ENR Business and Management Editor Debra K. Rubin.

“It was interesting to see what the other judges found fascinating,” Powell said afterward. “As a visual person, the ones that grabbed me most were images with great composition that overall made you want to look more closely to see what is going on. Noticing details that you don’t see at first glance often brought some image to the top of the ratings.” Powell was intrigued by Kipp’s insights from a construction perspective—factors that someone outside the industry wouldn’t know. “I hope our selections live up to the continued legacy of this annual contest; it is a fantastic program,” he said.

This year for the first time, we present a gatefold cover, enabling a horizontal image to take the prime position. Continuing audience engagement with the competition, in another first we invited readers to share their opinions about four cover options. More than 9,500 votes were cast, and the photo you see on the cover received 55% of the vote.