As editor-in-chief, I have the special privilege every year of presenting the ENR Award of Excellence in New York City and helping make a video about the winner. But the real work of writing the cover story and co-producing the video this year was done by Pam McFarland, ENR’s Washington, D.C.-based senior editor for environmental and labor news.

McFarland was already having a very productive 2023 by stepping outside her primary focus on policy and traveling to Turkey to write and shoot video about a dam project. When a major earthquake struck eastern Turkey, she added a tour of that area to her itinerary.