Birds Georgia Awards outstanding Volunteers and Partners

​At the 2024 Georgia Bird Fest Summit held in Athens on Saturday, April 20, Birds Georgia introduced and presented three new awards: The Legacy Award, the Trailblazer Award, and the Organization Award. 

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Joy Carter with husband Ken Boff.

​​Legacy Award Recipient: Joy Carter
The Legacy Award is awarded to a member who has been volunteering consistently for Birds Georgia over the years and who has made a lasting impression on both the staff and the community. The 2024 Legacy Award was presented to Joy Carter. Known for her helpfulness and dedication towards community, Joy has not only served Birds Georgia but other bird-related organization and is a vocal proponent of birds conservation. Joy is a past chair of the Birds Georgia Board of Directors and oversaw a remarkable period of growth for what was then Atlanta Audubon Society. She also heads up the InTown CBC, volunteers with Wild Nest Bird Rehab, and has been recognized for her work advocating for urban parks and conservation. Joy's work has left a lasting impact, and she is described as an authentic and dedicated community advocate who always finds ways to move forward.

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Alex (maroon shirt) and Ella (blue hat) leading a recent Birds Georgia teen field trip.

Trailblazer Award: Ella Seifert and Alex Stach
The Trailblazer Award is presented to a new volunteer who has recently joined the organization and has dove headfirst into volunteering and participating in Birds Georgia event. This year’s Trailblazer Award was presented to our two teen field trip leaders, Ella Seifert and Allex Stach. Ella graduated from our Master Birder program in 2022 as the youngest graduate ever. Alex was on the winning team of the Youth Birding Competition in 2024. They both completed the Georgia Urban Ecologist program and then took the initiative to go through field trip leader training and become Teen Field Trip Leaders. They have been leading trips since fall of 2023 and have built a great community amongst the youth birders.

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GNPS was the winner of the Organization Award. Photo by Phillip Prichard.

Organization Award: Georgia Native Plant Society
The Organization Award is presented to a partnering or local organization that consistently helps support our mission of building places where birds and people thrive through their collaboration with Birds Georgia or their own efforts in the local community. This year’s awardee is the Georgia Native Plant Society, which works hand in hand for over a decade to ensure that native plants are spread throughout the state to support pollinators and bird populations alike with native plant sales, habitat restoration and public education about native plants. The mission of Georgia Native Plant Society is to promote the stewardship and conservation of Georgia's native plants and their habitats. The organization has 8 chapters throughout Georgia engaging local communities in educational programs, native plant rescues, restoration, propagation, and advocacy. Our former Executive Director, Nikki Belmonte, now serves as Executive Director of GNPS, and we are building new programs and partnership opportunities between the two organizations. 

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