In a festive atmosphere and with the presence of numerous guests from the business world, on December 17, 2024, the awards for the best projects and project managers in Croatia for 2024 were presented at the Esplanade Zagreb Hotel. This prestigious award, organized by IPMA Croatia and IPMA Young Crew Croatia, marked 10 years of excellence in recognizing top achievements in the field of project management and providing incentives for the further development of this key discipline.
The aim of the award is to recognize professionals and teams whose work has contributed to the achievement of significant results in various sectors, from IT and construction, through education and culture, to non-profit organizations.
The awards are presented in eight categories:
- Best Mega Project (over 200 million EUR)
- Best Project Manager
- Best Young Project Manager
- Best Scientific Research in the Field of Project Management
- Best Small Project (up to 1 million EUR)
- Best Medium Project (from 1 million EUR to 20 million EUR)
- Best Large Project (from 20 million EUR to 200 million EUR)
- Visionary of the Year
The best mega project (over 200 million EUR) was won by the company BINA-ISTRA with the project “Second Učka Tunnel Pipe”.
This year, the award for the best scientific research in the field of project management went to Tomislav Rastovski for his doctoral thesis on the topic “Modeling a key set of competencies for increasing the success of construction project management.” Second place in this category went to Benjamin Kardum for his postgraduate specialist thesis “The impact of generative artificial intelligence on IT project management.”
The award for the best young leader went to Kristijan Trbojević with the project “Ride Safety”. The other two places went to Antonija Kurtović with the project “Startup conference of academies for high school students (RITup Ventures)” and Bernarda Grebenar with the project “Learn to Invest”.
Bojan Lončar and his project “Overhaul of the Rijeka Refinery” won the Award for the best young leader, while second place in the same category went to Dario Silić with the project “Second pipe of the Učka tunnel”.
In the Best Small Project category (up to EUR 1 million), the award was won by Ivana Staneković Šavor with the project “Circular program for smoke-free products”, and the other two places went to Sabina Lampl Tabaković with the project “Netflix” and Erna Tomiša with the project “SELECTIO – Examining organizational climate and employee engagement”.
Robert Manenica and his project “Implementation of a private 5G campus network in the Rijeka Gateway terminal” won the first prize in the category of the best medium-sized project (from 1 million euros to 20 million euros). Second place in the same category went to Mirjana Bogdan Majsec with the project “Cyber4De”.
The best large project (from EUR 20 million to EUR 200 million) was won by the company ING-GRAD with the project “Wastewater treatment plant (UPOV) of the city of Osijek”. Second place in the same category was earned by the company INA with the project “Renovation of the Rijeka Refinery”.
In particular, this year’s Visionary of the Year award went to prof. Ph.D. sc. Leo Mršić. This award refers to awards given to individuals or organizations for their exceptional foresight, innovation and contribution in their fields, and prof. Ph.D. sc. Leo Mršić met all the criteria for revolutionary achievements, leadership in his field and transformative changes.
The submitted projects were evaluated by an evaluation committee, made up of renowned experts – Saša Perko, Master of Civil Engineering and Director of DOMinvest Group, Neda Žužul, Director of Research, Petar Divjanović, expert in digital HR solutions at DEKRA Arbeit Group Germany, Mateo Juran, Head of PMO and Assoc. prof. Ph.D. sc. Rebeka D. Vlahov, associate professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Zagreb and IPMA Director of Digital Transformation & Professional Development.
This year’s award ceremony was a special moment to celebrate 10 years of excellence and continuity in promoting top-level project management in Croatia. As every year, the award was an opportunity for networking and exchange of experiences.
We congratulate all the winners and participants on their success and look forward to new challenges and projects in the upcoming year 2025.
Project Management Awards 2024 was held under the patronage of the Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia and supported by sponsors and partners HUKI, ZSEM Business Academy, Primakon, Esplanade Zagreb Hotel, Bodren Winery, Biljke Plants and media sponsors Net.hr, 24sata, Večernji list and Koordinacija.