Sunday, July 5, 2009

The Perry F. Kendig Award



Members Mary Tousman, Peggy Shiflett, Gail Greer and Margaret DuBois accept the Perry F. Kendig Award on behalf of the Roanoke Valley Branch of the National League of American Pen Women.

On June 24, the Roanoke Valley Branch of the National League of American Pen Women received the 2009 Perry F. Kendig Award from the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge.

The Arts Council of the Blue Ridge makes this prestigious award each year to an organization for its contributions and service to the community.

Branch members devote time and energy to numerous projects involving the arts in the form of painting, writing, storytelling, photography and other endeavors. Some of the activities include organizing a project to audiotape 250 children’s books, appropriate for K-5, for use by disadvantaged and/or visually handicapped children; working with a fifth grade class for three years helping them with idea development, and researching, interviewing, photography, writing and editing articles to create a monthly school newspaper.

Members also teach art to all age groups in schools, art museums, and outreach programs, raise funds for historic preservation and continuance of programs such as NOVA and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and coordinate and judge student essay contests and poetry contests. They also hold workshops on storytelling and encouraging people of all ages to tell their own stories and donating artwork to Roanoke Valley SPCA fundraising projects.

Members of the group are Margaret DuBois, Patricia A. Bijwaard, Becky Mushko, Ethel W. Born, Mildred Sandridge, Anita J. Firebaugh, J. Gail Geer, Judy Light Ayyildiz, Elena DeRosa, Myrtle Hooker, Gail Tansill Lambert, Eslye Moore, June Plunkett Poe, Beth Ann Rossi, Mary Tousman, and Peggy Ann Shifflett.

Additional coverage and information about the award can be found at:

Perry F. Kendig nomination form

The Arts Council notice of the event and award recipients

WDBJ7 news story of the event
Award-winner

Dan Smith explains the meaning of the awards in his blog

The Roanoke Times announcement of the awards