STAMFORD, Conn. (Sept. 8, 2015) — Keep America Beautiful’s National Awards program annually recognizes and honors the best of the best among its network of community-based affiliates and leading corporate, nonprofit and government agency partners, as well as individual volunteers across the country.

To honor individuals and organizations committed to creating communities that are clean, green and more beautiful places to live, Keep America Beautiful opens the application period for specific categories of its National Awards to the public, while others others are offered exclusively to Keep America Beautiful affiliates. The application deadline for all Keep America Beautiful National Awards is Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015.

The following Keep America Beautiful National Awards are open to the public:

• Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson Award: Given to an outstanding female volunteer for exceptional leadership with at least 10 years of experience in helping her local community.
• Iron Eyes Cody Award: Honors an outstanding male volunteer for exceptional leadership with at least 10 years of experience in helping his local community.
• Young Professional Award: Honors an outstanding volunteer, under the age of 40, who demonstrates exceptional leadership in helping their local community.
• Community Improvement Recognition Awards: Awards will be offered in up to four categories (litter prevention; beautification/greening; recycling/waste reduction; overall community improvement) for businesses, nonprofit organizations and government agencies.
• Youth & Education Recognition Awards: Recognizes outstanding youth, schools and educators.
• Law Enforcement Recognition Awards: Recognizes law enforcement professionals who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to community service in their approaches to enforcement of environmental laws and regulations.
• Keep America Beautiful Program Award: Honors a Keep America Beautiful affiliate, business, nonprofit or government agency for Keep America Beautiful program activation (Great American Cleanup, America Recycles Day or Cigarette Litter Prevention Program) that have taken place in the last 12 months.

The following awards are only open to Keep America Beautiful affiliates: Affiliate Awards; Affiliate Innovation Awards; State Affiliate Innovation Awards; The Sue Smith Award; The William (Bill) Nash Award; and the Keep America Beautiful State Agency Partnership Award.

For details about how to apply for the Keep America Beautiful National Awards, click here. All programs and projects submitted for consideration must have taken place within the past 12 months. Any questions about the Keep America Beautiful National Awards program should be directed to Shannon O’Donnell.

Award winners will be recognized at Keep America Beautiful’s annualNational Conference, scheduled to take place Feb. 1-3, 2016, in Orlando, Florida.

About Keep America Beautiful
At Keep America Beautiful, we want to ensure that beauty is our lasting signature. A leading national nonprofit, Keep America Beautiful inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. We envision a country where every community is a clean, green, and beautiful place to live. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful provides the expertise, programs and resources to help people end littering, reduce waste, increase recycling, and protect the natural beauty of the areas around us. The organization is driven by the work and passion of more than 600 community-based Keep America Beautiful affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the support of corporate partners, municipalities, elected officials, and individuals. To learn how you can donate or take action, visit kab.org. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, like us on Facebook, or view us onYouTube.