Area Development, a leading publication covering site selection and facility planning, announced its 2013 Gold and Silver Shovel Awards today, naming Kansas a Gold Shovel recipient. The award recognizes a significant number of high-value-added new jobs and investment in the state in 2012. Three other states were awarded Gold Shovel Awards, and 15 won Silver Shovel Awards.
“It is fantastic that Area Development has recognized Kansas as one of the nation’s economic development leaders,” Kansas Commerce Secretary Pat George said. “We’ve been working very hard to make Kansas as friendly as possible for businesses, so it’s exciting to see that those pro-growth policies have helped us become one of the premier states for job creators and investors.”
In 2012, the Department helped facilitate 164 projects that created or retained almost 15,500 jobs and resulted in more than $2.3 billion in capital investment. Those results helped Kansas win its first Gold Shovel Award. Area Development had previously awarded Kansas Silver Shovels in six of the past seven years.
The annual Shovel Awards recognize state economic development agencies that drive significant job creation through innovative policies, infrastructure improvements, processes and promotions that attract new employers as well as investments in expanded facilities. The Gold Shovels are presented annually to the states that have achieved the most success in terms of new job creation and economic impact. For the Silver Shovel Awards, the states are compared only to other states in their population tier.
Each of the 50 states was invited by Area Development to submit information about its top-10 job creation and investment projects. Only those projects that began to materialize in 2012 were considered. The Shovel Awards are given to the states with the highest weighted scores based on number of high-valued added jobs per capita, amount of investment, number of new facilities and industry diversity.
“The states receiving 2013 Shovel Awards deserve special recognition for their efforts to attract new businesses and to help their existing corporate citizens to expand their businesses,” said Geraldine Gambale, editor of Area Development. “They have managed to thrive and emerge from the recession as economic leaders.”
A report on the 2013 Shovel Award winners will be published in the Q2/Spring 2013 issue of Area Development and posted online at www.areadevelopment.com/awards.
Area Development is published bi-monthly and has 60,000-plus executive subscribers. It also maintains several highly visited websites.