Four win Southside Beautification Awards
The City of Southside received 33 nominations for its annual Southside Beautification Awards, and judges seemed to have a tough time weeding out the four winners.
The awards were given to the winners of each of the four categories: business, church, neighborhood entrance and residential.
Sandra Patterson, a contest judge, said the winners were chosen based on several criteria and were given a score of one to 10 in each, with 10 being excellent.
“We had a three-panel group and we judged them on criteria like landscape design, symmetry of blooming and overall compatible landscaping (in regard to) the structure,” she said.
Patterson said none of the judges are Southside residents but they all are Master Gardeners. With gardening being their areas of expertise, one might assume choosing the best landscape would be a simple task for them. Wrong!
“When we were finished, one of the judges said, ‘That was harder than I thought it would be,’” Patterson said. “And it was!”
She said it took almost eight straight hours to judge all the nominees. Sometimes the homeowners were there, sometimes not, but Patterson said the judges had the opportunity to meet almost all of the nominees.
“Each of these owners is to be commended for their hard work,” she said. “Some of them were new at gardening, but the (nominees) show the quality of the residents of Southside.”
Homeowners, churches, businesses and neighborhoods were judged for the event, and 16 nominations came in for just one category.
“We were three different judges, Hillside Landscaping but we all have a trained eye and know what to look for,” Patterson said. “And out of the top four nominees, Hillside Landscaping they were all six points from one another. It was really close.”
Judy Christian, chairwoman of the committee, reactivated the event four years ago as a way to reward local people for their hard work keeping Southside beautiful as well as to motivate others to take more pride in their surroundings.
Tags: chairwoman, churches, contest judge, Hillside Landscaping, Landscape Design, master gardeners, sandra patterson, six points, southside, straight hours, surroundings, symmetry0
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
