This year’s Community Pride Award winners were:

• Tracey Magdeburg and the Board of Realtors. Acting as the needed point-person to rally the troops and keep people involved, Magdeburg has gotten area Realtors to band together in a twice yearly litter pickup.

• The Young Professionals of the Haywood Chamber of Commerce. The group has worked to tie the county’s various greenways and outdoor recreation areas together into a more easily navigable system with signage.

• Dale Burris and Patsy Dowling. Though many people played important roles in the project, Burris and Dowling were instrumental in turning the old Hazelwood prison into Haywood Pathways Center, a place that works with people down on their luck to get back on a successful path. Burris, the county’s facilities and maintenance director, acted as general contractor for the project while Dowling, director of Mountain Projects, helped keep track of the accounting. 

• Mike and Linda Caldwell. The Caldwells lead by example in Canton, picking up litter all over town while also volunteering their time to help feed those in need through the Community Kitchen. 

• Grace Cathey. Cathey, a metal sculptor, has created a great many works — from Malcom the Swan at Lake Junaluska to the fox near United Community Bank on Waynesville’s Main Street — to beautify the community. 

• Andrew Bowen. Bowen, Maggie Valley’s town planner, has attacked with zest the goal of improving the town, including getting a massive litter pickup underway to remove trash from the town. 

• Stephanie Kea and Eric Sollie. Teachers at Tuscola High School, Kea and Sollie enlisted their art and masonry students, respectively, to design and build the new plaza by the Waynesville Armory. 

• Canton Central United Methodist Church. Once a year, church members take to the community, giving their time to pick up litter, do yard work and clean up public spaces in Canton. 

• Master Gardeners at Hazelwood Elementary. In a project that’s been going on for about eight years, the volunteers work with elementary students at the school to provide hands-on learning in the garden.