Schools, church win azaleas, awards

WRAL awarded azaleas and cash awards to three winners of the A.J. Fletcher Award on Oct. 9.

2010 marked the 25th year that Capitol Broadcasting Company has provided plants to eligible non-profit organizations.  Each year the WRAL Azalea Celebration honors three groups for their use and maintenance of the azaleas they were given.

This year's winners are:

3rd Place - Wiley Middle School (Winton-Salem, NC)

The plant distribution stated at 7:30 a.m. with many groups arriving early anxious to pick up their plants. There where a total of 130 different groups from all over the state of North Carolina. One group drove all the way from Cherokee to claim their plants.

“It was a beautiful sunny day and also an exciting day with this being the 25th year,” said Corporate Property Management Manager Tim Grissom. “I have been lucky enough to have been here for all 25 years of the Azalea Celebration.”

“It is hard to believe it has been 25 year since we started this program,” said Grissom. “During that time we have distributed over 230,000 azaleas to 3,500 different groups across the state.”