Women in Restoration Award Nominations Open for 2022!

It’s that time of year again – time to identify and celebrate women in restoration! I am thrilled share that we are officially accepting nominations for R&R’s 2022 Women in Restoration Award. Please visit this page to learn more about the award and submit a nomination for a leading woman in restoration.  

A few things of note regarding award nominations:

• The submission deadline is Monday, January 10, 2022.
• Women from any role within the restoration industry can nominate themselves and/or be nominated by others. They must have 10 years of industry experience and they cannot have been a past Women in Restoration Award winner.
• Runners-up from past years can be nominated again. 

We will present the award to the winner at the Restoration Industry Association’s (RIA) International Restoration Convention & Industry Expo taking place April 11-13, 2022, in Reno, Nevada. The winner and runners-up will also be featured in the April issue of R&R. 

Since the inception of this campaign, more than 250 women have been nominated and we intend to keep building on the impressive momentum. 

It is no secret that the restoration industry is male-dominated, as is the construction industry overall. While women make up 47% of the entire U.S. labor force, they comprise just 10.9% of the construction workforce, according to 2020 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.   

It is our hope that by shining a spotlight on outstanding women in restoration, we help encourage and empower more women to join this great industry and advance within it. After all, staffing is the top challenge for restoration businesses according to R&R’s 2021 State of the Industry report. In addition, more gender diverse companies – executive teams in particular – are more likely to have above-average profitability, according to 2020 research by McKinsey. 

For these reasons and more, R&R is honored and eager to formally celebrate women making strides within their organizations and restoration overall for the seventh consecutive year. 

Announcing a New Award for Restoration Professionals 

While we’re on the topic of awards, I am very excited to announce that R&R is launching a brand-new award recognizing outstanding restoration technicians! 

We’re in the early stages of bringing this new initiative to life, but we wanted you to know to be on the lookout for more, and to welcome your input as we move forward. 

In my short time with the industry, I’ve heard it voiced again and again that technicians are the unsung, frontline heroes tasked with the grueling work this great industry prides itself on. I’ve also heard that in the war for talent restoration companies find themselves fighting in, technicians are among the hardest to recruit and retain. In the spirit of helping build a strong, sustainable pipeline of restoration professionals for generations to come, we are eager – through this new award – to celebrate restoration technicians and to give them the industrywide visibility they deserve for the very hard but noble work they do. 

We are working toward an official launch of the award in 2022, so please stay tuned for more and send your thoughts my way in the meantime (kingv@bnpmedia.com). 

In closing, I want to be sure to highlight that this will mark R&R’s third annual award program. In addition to the Women in Restoration Award and to-be-named restoration technician award, keep your eyes and ears open for nominations to open for the third annual Ladder Award in mid-2022. This award honors outstanding young leaders in restoration who are 35 years and younger. 

Don’t forget to nominate a deserving woman, or women, in restoration on or by January 10! More details and the nomination form can be found here. 

Until next time,

Valerie King