Finalists for the 2020 President’s Awards Program were recently announced in Austin. For over 30 years the awards program, sponsored by the Texas Downtown Association (TDA), has recognized outstanding projects, places, and people of Texas downtowns.
The San Saba Economic Development Corporation (EDC) recognized a local project that occurred during March 2020. Not only was this project occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home directive, which made it seemly impossible to accomplish, but the San Saba Community made it happen in record time. Therefore, EDC, perceived it was very worthy of recognition and submitted it as a nomination to TDA’s Resiliency Award category.
TDA was established in 1985 to connect and serve communities that are committed to downtown vitality. The organization is an independent, statewide nonprofit that represents cities and towns of all sizes, economic development corporations, chambers of commerce, local associations, small businesses, and individuals.
San Saba’s EDC proudly announces that the project nomination - Rebuilding a Grocery Store during a Pandemic – was selected as a FINALIST in TDA’s Resiliency Award category.
One hundred and four entries were submitted in 11 different categories from communities across the state. Due to the number of entries, the entries were divided up into two categories – Design and Achievement – with separate judging panels for each group.
The judges for achievement entries were: A. J. Fawyer, Verdunity; P.A. Geddie, County Line Magazine; Lynda Humble; and Julie Kunkle, Open Sky Media, Inc.
Winners will be announced virtually on the TDA Facebook page in a series of Award Announcement Videos as follows:
• Design Awards: Tuesday, October 27th at noon
• Achievement Awards: Wednesday, October 28th at noon
• People Specialty (Individual Awards): October 29th at noon
The award announcements will lead to the kick-off of the virtual 2020 Texas Downtown Conference from November 9-12. For more information about the President’s Awards, Conference, or other programs of the Texas Downtown Association, please visit <www.texasdowntown. org>. Applications for the 2021 awards program will open in the spring.