West Virginia’s Premier Business Publication

Governor Tomblin: West Virginia Honored with 2013 Silver Shovel Award

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin recently announced Area Development, a leading publication covering site selection and facility planning, has honored West Virginia with a 2013 Silver Shovel award. The award is presented in recognition of states that have achieved significant success in terms of economic impact and jobs creation.”This award is a testament to the many pro-growth reforms-from workers compensation reform to the Horizontal Well Act-that our state has undertaken to encourage new and existing businesses to expand their roots in our state,” Gov. Tomblin said.

This marks the first time in the award’s eight-year history that West Virginia has received the Silver Shovel designation.

Area Development invited each of the 50 states to submit information on its top 10 projects that began in 2012. The Shovel Awards were given to the states with the highest weighted scores based on number of high-value-added jobs per capita, amount of investment, number of new facilities, and industry diversity.

States competed against other states of comparable population size. West Virginia qualified for a Silver Shovel award in the fewer than 3 million population category.

“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.”