Entries welcomed for 2023 Mass Timber Competition

Eligible project teams are encouraged to submit proposals for the 2023 Mass Timber Competition: Building to Net-Zero Carbon, funded by the Softwood Lumber Board and USDA Forest Service. 

This follow-up to last year's competition will award funds totaling $2 million to support building projects that advance the goal of aggressively accelerating the pace of low-carbon mass timber adoption in the United States. 

The competition entry deadline is May 5, and results will be announced during National Forest Products Week, Oct. 15-Oct. 20.

Eligible building types include commercial, institutional, industrial, educational, mixed-use, and multifamily housing developments. Eligible applicants include for-profit building organizations registered in the U.S., including architects, engineers, developers, general contractors, and building owners; not-for-profit organizations incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation or society formed in the U.S., such as colleges, universities, and associations; U.S. local governments; and Native American tribal governments and organizations.

Cost analyses, life cycle assessments, and other information provided by award recipients will be shared with the broader design and construction community to encourage and support other mass timber projects.

A judging panel including representation from architecture, engineering, construction, development, forestry, and sustainability will select the competition finalists based on their potential to reduce embodied carbon, strengthen the domestic mass timber supply chain, demonstrate the importance of sustainable forest management, and recognize the connection between the built and natural environments. 

Preference will also be provided for projects that commit to using domestically harvested and manufactured mass timber. WoodWorks, a nonprofit staffed with structural engineers, architects, and construction experts, will conduct the technical review of entries.

To learn more about the competition, view last year's recipients, and to download the request for proposals, visit http://www.softwoodlumberboard.org/net-zero.

The Softwood Lumber Board (SLB) is an industry-funded initiative established to promote the uses as well as the environmental and economic benefits of softwood lumber products. Programs and initiatives supported by the SLB, including American Wood Council, Think Wood, and WoodWorks, focus on increasing the demand for lumber products in the United States.