And the Winners Are . . . 39th Annual Reggie AwardsSM
5th Annual Peoples Choice Awards
4th Bi-Annual Bennie Awards The Builders Association of the Twin Cities is proud to announce the winners of the 39th Annual Reggie AwardsSM, the fifth annual Peoples Choice Awards, and the fourth bi-annual Bennie (best neighborhood) awards. The awards were presented to winning builders and developers at a gala banquet last October at The Depot in downtown Minneapolis. Thirty Reggie AwardsSM and ten Peoples Choice Awards were presented to honor excellence in design, construction, and value for builders of new homes, plus four developers received Bennie Awards to recognize excellence in neighborhood design and construction. Additionally, three amateur photographers received cash prizes for their photographs of the Reggie AwardSM–winning homes. Reggie Awards
The Reggie AwardsSM, which stand for Registered Builder, were created in 1968 to recognize outstanding achievement by member builders in the design, quality and value of their homes. Held in conjunction with the Parade of Homes Fall ShowcaseSM, participating builders enter their best new Parade HomesSM in the Reggie AwardSM competition. The entries were divided into single-family and association-maintained homes, and then into price ranges, creating thirty categories. Armed with comprehensive judging forms, four industry professionals each visited the homes in their category. Judges examined the homes, rating seventeen specific aspects of each home’s design and construction quality and three additional questions that rated the home’s overall quality and value. Once all the homes were viewed, the four judges got together to discuss the scores and select the winning entry. “The Reggie AwardSM is the most highly prized honor most builders can earn,” explains Curt Swanson, 2006 president of the Builders Association of the Twin Cities and president of Swanson Homes. “It’s truly an honor to have your toughest critics, other builders, judge your home to be the best.” In 2006, a total of 151 homes were judged in five association-maintained and twenty-five single-family home categories. The thirty winners are listed at right, from lowest to highest priced. The number preceding each builder name refers to their Parade of Homes Fall ShowcaseSM entry number. Peoples Choice Award
In its fifth year, the Peoples Choice Award was formed in response to requests by member builders to create a way to judge consumers’ reactions to their Parade HomesSM. While the Reggie AwardsSM honor the homes that builders find to be best, that doesn’t always translate into what the general public likes most. Builders have also told the Builders Association that they’ve found visitors are sometimes uncomfortable telling the builder or agent what they like or don’t like about a particular model. The Peoples Choice Awards begin with a short questionnaire that visitors to the home can use to rate it compared to their “ideal” home for the price. The questionnaire asked visitors to rate eight aspects of the home (exterior, curb appeal; interior, floor plan/layout; kitchen; bathrooms; bedrooms; other indoor spaces; site orientation, decks, porches; and construction quality) on a five-point scale, as well as to complete two open-ended questions (what did you like best and what should be improved?). Each of the fifty-nine participating Parade HomesSM received 500 postage-paid postcards which were made available to visitors. To participate as a judge, consumers simply completed the postcard and dropped it in the mail. The postcards were tallied, and the top-scoring home within ten price ranges received a Peoples Choice Award. The winners are listed at right. The number preceding each builder name refers to their Parade of Homes Fall ShowcaseSM entry number. The Bennie Awards
The Bennie Awards were initiated in 2001 to recognize excellence in neighborhood design and construction. Bennie Awards recognize the best neighborhood design in three categories—single family, association maintained, and “new” which are neighborhoods that combine multiple housing types. Judging criteria include aesthetic appeal, land plan, retention of natural features, amenities such as parks and trails, neighborhood structures like mailboxes and signage, as well as traffic flow within and to each neighborhood. The “new” category adds in criteria for mixed-use opportunities (within or adjacent to the neighborhood), range of housing types and prices (life-cycle housing), and pedestrian appeal. Bennie Award judges are recruited from the development community. Each judge visits the neighborhoods in his or her category and completes a comprehensive judging form. Both raw scores and rankings are tabulated to determine the winner. | 
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