Silver Shovel Award honors Utah economy

Utah recently was one of 10 states to earn a Silver Shovel Award from Area Development magazine in recognition of the state's excellence in economic development.

The magazine's 2007 Gold and Silver Shovel awards recognize state economic development agencies "that drive significant job creation through innovative policies, infrastructure improvements, processes and promotions that attract new employees and investments in expanded facilities."

For the Silver Shovel Award, states were compared only to other states in their tier based on population. Utah, Nebraska and Kansas were in the under-3-million-population category. Georgia earned the Gold Shovel Award.

Only projects that began to materialize in 2006 were considered. Winners were selected based on the number of new jobs per capita, number of new facilities and other factors.

The magazine covers site-selection and business-relocation matters.