American Galvanizers Association announces award winners

The American Galvanizers Association (AGA), Centennial, Colo., has announced the winners of the 2017 Excellence in Hot-Dip Galvanizing Awards. More than 120 projects were judged online by a panel of architects and engineers. The projects are available for viewing in the AGA Project Gallery at www.galvanizeit.org/project-gallery. A full list of winners is available at www.galvanizeit.org/project-gallery/winners.

The Most Distinguished Award was given to the Horizon Oil Sands Slurry Preparation Plant (SPP) in Alberta, Canada, for the use of hot-dip galvanized steel to withstand the plant’s corrosive environment.

The Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes galvanized projects with at least 15 years of service, was granted to the Baseball Man. This topiary, designed in 2001, greets visitors at the Gulfport Sportsplex in Mississippi. Its hot-dip-galvanized frame is designed to withstand the internal irrigation system and harsh fertilizers. In 2005, Baseball Man and the Sportsplex were devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Later that year, vandals set the topiary on fire, but the frame was unscathed, and the topiary is now restored.