Awards Program

As prop manager for Wilde Lake High School's production of Beauty and the Beast, sophomore Kimby Josephson had to build a fireplace and create costumes for 60 dancing townspeople with baskets. Junior Emma Murphy choreographed seven dance numbers -- including moves for a zebra, a jaguar and a parade of prancing food -- in Glenelg Country School's Just So. Zach Kashkett, a senior, learned "a lot of lines" to play the lead role of Harold Hill in The Music Man at River Hill. On Sunday night, those young people were recognized along with 33 other individuals and groups at the Hippodrome Theatre by the Cappies of Baltimore program, which strives to shine a spotlight on the long hours, hard work and creativity that goes into high school theater productions.

EP Henry has announced the winners of the third annual Contractors' Choice Awards, which recognizes the outstanding Hardscaping professionals and projects of 2012 across the Mid-Atlantic region, and a Joppa firm was runner up in one of the categories. Wirtz and Daughters, based in Joppa, was runner up in the Distributor of the Year category. Wirtz and Daughters has been in business 27 years and employs a staff of 28. The company offers both educational classes and field training, and also boasts extensive indoor and outdoor displays with labeled products and a retired contractor available for consultation.

BETHESDA -- Science desperately needs researchers who, like Mozart, are unconventional, says Dr. Bernadine Healy, the new director of the National Institutes of Health, the world's leading medical research organization.So now for the first time, there is a new $30 million awards program Healy believes will help bring in the creative investigators she likens to the brilliant and unconventional composer. "In the past, the Mozarts of medicine often have not been funded because their work was considered "a little too risky," she said."

The Baltimore County Police Department has been recognized by an international police organization for its use of a statewide program designed to keep watch on the most violent offenders. The International Association of Chiefs of Police awarded the Webber Seavey Award to Chief James W. Johnson for using the Violence Prevention Initiative, a four-year-old program that fosters greater cooperation between police officers and state parole and probation agents. Police have used the program to jail people for probation violations who are suspects in criminal investigations, to seize weapons and to develop information used to make arrests.

Economic diversity panel seeks award nominees The Howard County Economic Development Authority's Committee for Business and Economic Diversity will celebrate business diversity at its 15th CBED Awards Program. The program recognizes leaders in the Howard County business community, honoring their achievements in creating equal opportunity. Two scholarships are also awarded. Nominations are being accepted in the categories of Business Achievement, Individual Achievement, and Business Diversity Achievement, and for the Howard County General Hospital Rising Business Star Scholarship and the Earl H. Saunders Entrepreneurial Scholarship.

The Maryland Bankers Association announced its 2011 Financial Education Award winners and, for the first time, The Columbia Bank placed in all three categories. The bank won first place in the Adults and Seniors category, and second place in both the Young Adults and School-Age Children categories. This past year marked the eighth year where members of the Maryland Bankers Association could showcase their banks' efforts by participating in Maryland Bankers Association's Financial Education Awards Program.

Nominations sought for Smart Growth awards program The Maryland Economic Growth, Resource Protection and Planning Commission is seeking nominations for its Smart Growth awards program. In its seventh year, the program honors outstanding projects that exemplify the goals of Maryland's Smart Growth and Neighborhood Conservation program - conserving the state's land and natural resources, strengthening existing communities, reducing sprawl and making use of existing infrastructure. Awards will be given for initiatives in public education, government innovation, excellence in reporting on Smart Growth, revitalization, school construction and renovation and "smart" development.

Business award nominations due no later than Dec. 31Nominations are being accepted for the Sixth Annual Equal Business Opportunity Awards Program, recognizing outstanding achievements and leadership by the county's business community.The 2000 EBO Awards program, sponsored by the Equal Business Opportunity Committee of the Howard County Economic Development Authority, will be Feb. 24 at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory's Kossiakoff Center.Nominations, due by Dec. 31, should be mailed to Howard County Economic Development Authority, Business Resource Center, 6751 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite 150, Columbia 21046.

Fifteen local firms and organizations, each with community service programs ranging from recycling efforts to fighting illiteracy, have received the Greater Baltimore Committee's and Mayor's Business Recognition Award.The 17th annual awards program, which is jointly sponsored by Baltimore's mayor and the GBC, was held yesterday at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Baltimore. Approximately 500 people attended."The involvement of Baltimore business in the community is nothing short of indispensable," said Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke just before presenting the awards.

EP Henry has announced the winners of the third annual Contractors' Choice Awards, which recognizes the outstanding Hardscaping professionals and projects of 2012 across the Mid-Atlantic region, and a Joppa firm was runner up in one of the categories. Wirtz and Daughters, based in Joppa, was runner up in the Distributor of the Year category. Wirtz and Daughters has been in business 27 years and employs a staff of 28. The company offers both educational classes and field training, and also boasts extensive indoor and outdoor displays with labeled products and a retired contractor available for consultation.

The Maryland Bankers Association announced its 2011 Financial Education Award winners and, for the first time, The Columbia Bank placed in all three categories. The bank won first place in the Adults and Seniors category, and second place in both the Young Adults and School-Age Children categories. This past year marked the eighth year where members of the Maryland Bankers Association could showcase their banks' efforts by participating in Maryland Bankers Association's Financial Education Awards Program.

There are some people who bring a smile to your face the second you see them. For me, Bob Beyer is one of those people. I was never sure of his title at DNR's Wildlife and Heritage Service. In a semi-successful attempt to hide the ever-dwindling number of administrators, biologists and technicians, Bob's duties and title were always shifting and I almost always guessed wrong before settling on: deputy, assistant, associate director of getting things done right. Because that's what he did. Now he doesn't have any title.

Jazz musician Carl Grubbs has performed across Europe, South America and the United States and has received a host of awards over the years. But he says he can't think of any honor higher than the one he received Wednesday, when he was named one of the top winners of the first Baker Artist Awards program, established to promote Baltimore-area artists on the Internet and encourage more artists to move here. "I have a Web site, but there's no way in the world that I could think of building a Web connection like theirs," Grubbs, 64, said after the awards were announced.

Winners of the prestigious Baker Artist Awards program in Baltimore won't be announced until Wednesday night, but mosaic artist Rick Shelley figures he's already benefited from the competition. After he posted his entry on the Baker awards Web site in January, Shelley says, a couple commissioned him to design a mosaic tile floor insert - bearing the image of a purple octopus - for a home they're building in Pennsylvania. Shelley said entering the contest forced him to put slides of his work into a digital format that anyone can view.

Economic diversity panel seeks award nominees The Howard County Economic Development Authority's Committee for Business and Economic Diversity will celebrate business diversity at its 15th CBED Awards Program. The program recognizes leaders in the Howard County business community, honoring their achievements in creating equal opportunity. Two scholarships are also awarded. Nominations are being accepted in the categories of Business Achievement, Individual Achievement, and Business Diversity Achievement, and for the Howard County General Hospital Rising Business Star Scholarship and the Earl H. Saunders Entrepreneurial Scholarship.

Dozens of high school students heard their names called, listened to the cheers of the crowd and climbed onto the stage of the Hippodrome Theatre on Sunday night to receive Cappie awards recognizing achievement in high school theater. But for Carole Lehan, program director for the Cappies of Baltimore, the scene that really captures the spirit of the event happened a few hours earlier, when the daylong rehearsal for the Cappies gala was complete. In a large ballroom, 500 students crowded together and held their hands out toward the middle of the room for a final show of encouragement.

Eleven executives of young Maryland companies recently received 1995 Entrepreneur of the Year awards at a Palm Springs, Calif., resort.The national awards program -- begun by the professional services firm of Ernst & Young in 1986 -- also is sponsored by Inc. magazine and Merrill Lynch. In Maryland, it is sponsored by The Baltimore Sun Co., Sprint Business and the Piper & Marbury law firm."We look for businesses that will grow and continue to hire people," said Ronald Diegelman, director of entrepreneurial services at Ernst & Young's Baltimore office.

Equal Business Opportunity panel to present awards The Equal Business Opportunity Committee of the Howard County Economic Development Authority has announced a new category in its awards program, which recognizes outstanding achievement and leadership by members of the county's diverse business community. This year, awards will be presented in the categories of Business Achievement Star, Individual Achievement Star, Business Commitment Star, Individual Commitment Star and a new category that will recognize achievement by a high school student -- Rising Business Star.

C. Lee Geddes, who during his more than three-decade career as project manager for the Harford County Parks and Recreation Department helped bring to fruition numerous award-winning waterfront projects throughout the county, died of a heart attack Monday at his Aberdeen home. He was 66. Mr. Geddes - who preferred to be known as Bob Lee Geddes - was born in Reading, Pa., and raised in nearby Shillington, Pa., where he graduated from Governor Mifflin High School in 1959. He was also a graduate of the Columbia School for the Arts in Philadelphia, where he studied broadcasting.

As prop manager for Wilde Lake High School's production of Beauty and the Beast, sophomore Kimby Josephson had to build a fireplace and create costumes for 60 dancing townspeople with baskets. Junior Emma Murphy choreographed seven dance numbers -- including moves for a zebra, a jaguar and a parade of prancing food -- in Glenelg Country School's Just So. Zach Kashkett, a senior, learned "a lot of lines" to play the lead role of Harold Hill in The Music Man at River Hill. On Sunday night, those young people were recognized along with 33 other individuals and groups at the Hippodrome Theatre by the Cappies of Baltimore program, which strives to shine a spotlight on the long hours, hard work and creativity that goes into high school theater productions.