To increase awareness of the benefits of whole building integration and honor successful implementation strategies, theBuilConnorganizers announced the 2005 Buildy Awards program celebrating the North American organizations and individuals who best support the vision of networked building systems.

Given the multiple facets of the integration process, four award categories have been established for the Buildy Awards:

Vision -- This award will be presented to the industry professional who best demonstrates a vision of whole building integration and interoperability through advocacy, promotion, education, and training endeavors.

Best Integration Project-- Awarded to a systems integrator, the recipient of this award demonstrates the ability to efficiently integrate a wide array of building systems together and successfully enable operation over a corporate IT infrastructure.

Best New Product-- This award honors a manufacturer whose new product or service overcame a significant challenge, enhanced, or simplified the integration process.

Best Building-- This award will be presented to the building owner or consultant with the most progressive building technology supporting the vision of whole building integration. The building must be currently occupied.

"We had excellent response from the industry when the Awards program was introduced last year," Anto Budiardjo, BuilConn organizer, said. "People are excited to participate and see the award as a great recognition for their efforts in pursuing intelligent and integrated buildings." Participation is open to industry professionals, systems integrators, technology manufacturers, building owners, and consulting engineers in North America. Candidates may enter the competition by nominating themselves, their own company, or their peers. Application forms and more information will be available soon. For more information on the Buildy Awards, please contact frank@clasma.com.

All nominations will be reviewed by the BuilConn boards and elected by BuilConn attendees on the first day of BuilConn. Winners will be selected by conference attendees on March 23, during the Building Systems Expo. Announcement of the winners will take place during the Industry Gala March 24 at BuilConn in Dallas.

Nominees must be present or have a representative present to win. The third annual event will be held in Dallas, March 21-24, 2005, at the Adam's Mark Hotel Dallas. For further information, please visit www.builconn.com.