Nominations now open for Hickory’s Beautification Awards Program
The streets of Hickory are lined with numerous landscapes and spaces that have been beautifully renovated or restored. Each year, the City of Hickory’s Community Appearance Commission (CAC) takes nominations for its annual Beautification Awards Program, which highlights these attractive areas.
Beautification Awards are presented to individuals and groups who have made an outstanding effort in crafting, developing, and maintaining a beautiful property either through landscaping or renovations and/or restorations to a building within the City of Hickory limits. One award will be presented for each of the following categories:
• Residential Landscape - Professionally Installed and/or Maintained
• Residential Landscape - Non-Professionally Installed and/or Maintained
• Residential Renovation and/or Restoration
• Non-Residential Landscape
• Non-Residential Renovation and/or Restoration
• Litter Quitter Award
• Special Award – Boy Scout or Girl Scout Troop, non-profit organization, etc.
Strong nominations will include landscapes that are visually appealing, inviting, and utilize materials creatively. Overall enhancement to the neighborhood should also be considered, as well as whether plants are drought-tolerant and native or locally adapted. It is important to note that any topped trees on a property will disqualify a project.
Nominations for the Renovation and/or Restoration Projects Award, in the Buildings and Structures category, should consist of properties with improvements that maintain and enhance the overall architectural character and integrity of the structure or the neighborhood and reutilize an existing structure.
Returning this year is an award category for those in the community who are active Litter Quitters in Hickory. The CAC partnered with the City’s Office of Communications to launch the anti-litter campaign called Litter Quitters in April 2021 to further promote good stewardship of the environment and improve the appearance of the community.
“The Beautification Awards Program gives citizens the opportunity to recognize properties that have gone above and beyond to improve their appearance and the community they are located within,” said City Planner Wilson Elliott, staff liaison to the CAC. “Over the years, there have been all types of nominations from all parts of the city - from renovated businesses and meticulously landscaped homes to service projects from local scouts. We’re also proud to recognize those in our community who are committed to collecting litter with the recently established Litter Quitter Award.”
To make a nomination, please submit a completed nomination form, which can be found at www.hickorync.gov/community-appearance-commission, along with at least one photograph of the property, to the Community Appearance Commission, Attention: Wilson Elliott, City of Hickory, P.O. Box 398, Hickory, NC 28603. Nominations may also be submitted via email to welliott@hickorync.gov.
Nominations may come from individuals outside of Hickory City limits, but the nominated property must be within the City limits. The submittal deadline is November 15. Please call 828-323-7422 for more information.
The mission of the Community Appearance Commission is to enhance the appearance of the City of Hickory by advising on and implementing programs of general community beautification. Members help coordinate the activities of individuals, agencies, and organizations, public and private, whose plans, activities, and programs bear upon the appearance of the City.