Keep America Beautiful’s Graffiti Prevention Competition Announces Awards
Keep America Beautiful, Inc., has announced three winners in the 2006 Graffiti Hurts National Award competition. The winners are: Keep Dallas Beautiful, Dallas, TX (communities greater than 300,000 population); Together Against Graffiti, El Mirage, AZ (communities less than 300,000 population); and Celebrate the Arts, Wilmington, NC (paint brush mural).
Cities that took top honors were successful in bringing together community partners and engaging citizen volunteers in the fight against graffiti.
The Graffiti Hurts National Awards serve as a showcase of the best creative efforts of people and organizations that are taking action to prevent blight.
Graffiti Hurts was developed in 1997 through a partnership between Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s largest nonprofit education and community improvement organization, and Sherwin-Williams Co., maker of Krylon paint. Graffiti Hurts provides community resources and educational tools, and promotes best practices for graffiti prevention.
Winning programs receive a cash award of up to $1,000, a plaque, and graffiti prevention prizes. Winners in the community “under 300,000” and “over 300,000” populations each receive a FlashCAM-880 Wireless graffiti deterrent system manufactured by Q-Star Technology and valued at nearly $6,000. The winner in the “paint brush mural” category receives a Graffiti Removal Starter Pack from Urban Restoration Group valued at $400.
Applicants represented the best of local governments, police departments, schools, nonprofit volunteer organizations, and other groups dedicated to eradicating graffiti vandalism. Award winners were selected by an independent panel of judges, which included Rosemary DeMenno, the National Crime Prevention Council; Faith Wiedler, National Council to Prevent Delinquency; Sgt. Dwight Waldo, San Bernardino Police Department; Nancy Melendez, Keep Riverside Clean and Beautiful; and Michelle Neuhauser, Sherwin-Williams Co.
