Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful (KTNRB) recently announced the winners in the 2nd annual Tennessee River Ripple Effect Awards presented by Yamaha Rightwaters. This year, the awards were expanded to recognize winners of nine categories in three regions that touch Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina.
“The Tennessee River is a precious resource that impacts everyone living within its watershed and beyond, so it’s only fitting that our award recipients come from so many different walks of life,” said Kathleen Gibi, Executive Director for Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful. “We’re proud to recognize this year’s recipients, who have demonstrated good stewardship of our waterways even through a pandemic.”
The goal of the awards is to inspire new river champions through sharing the winners’ success stories, thus the concept behind the ‘Ripple Effect’ title. Each award category will soon be presented digitally to each recipient:
CONSERVATION
East – Norris Lake Project
Middle – David Bolling, City Manager of Kingston, TN
West – Tennessee Riverline
ADOPT A RIVER MILE / STORM DRAIN
East – Knoxville Volunteer Rotary Club
Middle – Jim Hill / Chickamauga Fly, Bait, & Casting Club
West – Phillip Toon
GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT / LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY
East – City of Knoxville Stormwater Engineering
Middle – Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge
West – Johnsonville State Historic Park
ELECTED OFFICIAL
City Councilwoman Paige Bibbee – City of Decatur, AL
STANDOUT YOUTH
East – Cash “The Conservation Kid” Daniels
Middle – Hannah Bailey
MARINA / RESORT
Fontana Village Resort & Marina
BUSINESS / CORPORATION
East – Dollywood
Middle – Discovery Communications
West – Caterpillar Reman
KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL AFFILIATE
Keep Knoxville Beautiful
BEACON AWARD
East – Donna Dunn
Middle – Mark Campen
West – Darrin Samborski
Each winner is receiving a glass trophy that resembles a rippling river. The awards are sponsored by Yamaha Rightwaters, a sustainability initiative of the international watercraft company, Yamaha.
“Yamaha Rightwaters is fighting to protect our most precious and essential natural resource – water,” said Martin Peters Yamaha Marine Division Manager, Government Relations. “It embodies all of Yamaha’s conservation initiatives, and becomes a platform for many plans the company has in store to improve our water resources.
“We are proud to partner with Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful in their efforts to preserve and protect this amazing resource so that future generations can continue to enjoy the Tennessee River for decades to come.”
Nominations for the 3rd annual Ripple Effect Awards will be made available Monday, Jan. 4, 2021 and will remain open for submissions until October 2021. Nominations may be submitted at www.KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org/awards.
“Yamaha Rightwaters has made these awards possible, and we are so grateful to them for helping us tell the stories of these amazing champions for the Tennessee River,” said Gibi.
