Badger Craftsman Awards: How Voting Works & How to Win

What are the Badger Craftsman Awards and who runs them?

The Wisconsin Builders Association presents the Badger Craftsman Awards as its recognition program for member construction work, and it throws the judging open to everyone in Wisconsin instead of hiding it behind a closed jury. Builders, remodelers and specialty contractors tied to the association put finished projects forward, and the public decides which of them deserve the honors.

Where the ballot lives

Voting runs on the association's own competition site at wisconsinbuilders.us.launchpad6.com/BCA, built on ContestPad software. That single address holds every division, the entry gallery and the vote controls in one place. Because the program carries the association's brand rather than a media outlet's, the ballot reads less like a popularity list and more like a project showcase, which changes how supporters talk about it: the ask is craftsmanship, not civic loyalty.

The vertical sits closest to a business honor roll, though any Wisconsin resident may weigh in. Results get a proper finish too, because the association announces the winners in news posts on wisbuild.org rather than letting the tally fade once the window shuts.

When did the Badger Craftsman Awards run, and when does voting open and close?

The program's public vote is confirmed for two cycles: ballots went live in 2025 and once more for 2026, when the association's winners announcement celebrated the results. In that announcement the association described the program directly: "Now in its fifth year, the annual program highlights the remarkable innovation, craftsmanship, and dedication of WBA members who are committed to building safe, accessible, and inspiring homes for Wisconsin residents." Under that annual pattern, a 2027 round is the working expectation until the association says otherwise.

The calendar has two distinct phases. Entries come first: only members of the Wisconsin Builders Association are eligible to enter, each submission carries a fee of $100.00, and the deadline to submit is Friday, May 1 at 12pm. Public voting follows straight after, opening Monday, May 4 and closing Wednesday, May 27 across every category.

The split matters for planning. A supporter who waits until June finds the ballot shut, and a member who misses the early-May cutoff sits out the whole cycle regardless of how the vote would have gone. Both dates sit inside May, which compresses the entire program into a few busy weeks.

Not everything is spelled out ahead of time. No prize description appears anywhere on the ballot, and the home screen prints its division list without a total count of entry classes or a ceiling on submissions from a single member; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

How does voting work on the Badger Craftsman Awards ballot?

The voter's path

Start at the ballot address and scan the divisions printed on the home screen. The mechanics stay deliberate and simple: open a division, look over the member entries in it, and register your preference with the vote control. The association's published voting guidance for the program limits each supporter to one vote per category per day, which turns the ballot into a habit rather than a single click, because a supporter who cares about several divisions can spread choices across them and return tomorrow.

Two practical notes follow. First, the site's navigation shows login and register links, yet neither the home screen nor the division pages state whether casting a vote requires an account. Second, the ballot is a standard web form, so the same path works from a phone during a lunch break or from a desktop at home.

The divisions themselves cover the full arc of a building project:

Each of these divisions takes its own daily vote, so a household backing a remodeler in Remodel - Whole House and a landscaper in Landscaping/Curb Appeal can support both on the same day without touching the published limit.

How do the Badger Craftsman Awards differ from Wisconsin's other public votes?

Wisconsin's public-vote calendar leans on city-level best-of surveys, and the Badger Craftsman Awards stand apart from that crowd. The state's reader-voting space includes Best of the Valley serving Appleton, Best of Madison, Best of Milwaukee - Readers' Choice, the Eau Claire Reader's Choice Awards, Best of the Bay in Green Bay and Janesville CommunityVotes, each anchored to its own city or region and pitched at a broad consumer audience.

This ballot flips the emphasis. Everyone may still vote, but the contenders are Wisconsin Builders Association member projects, the subject is residential construction rather than a town's favorite spots, and appearing as a contestant requires membership plus a timely submission. For a builder, the vote blends peer respect with client enthusiasm; for a supporter, the choices on screen are finished homes, remodeled kitchens and landscaped lots instead of a parade of storefronts.

That difference shapes outreach as well. Support travels through trade networks and past-client lists rather than general civic pride, and the May window concentrates the whole effort into a few weeks instead of a months-long summer survey.

How can a project gain ground in the Badger Craftsman vote?

A project's standing grows out of two things this format rewards: breadth and rhythm. Breadth, because a firm whose work appears in several divisions, from Finished Basement / Bonus Room to Smart Home, collects support in each one separately. Rhythm, because the daily structure favors supporters who come back day after day instead of voting once and forgetting the ballot exists.

The Wisconsin Builders Association publishes no guidance of its own on organized voting pushes, so a member planning outreach should anchor everything to the ballot's published dates and division list. For tactics that transfer across public ballots, including reminder cadence and supporter mobilization, see the votes guide; award-style programs are covered separately at the award page.