The 2009 Heart of Green Awards

Making Green Mainstream

The Daily Green's Heart of Green Awards honor those people and organizations that take green to the mainstream — to the "heart" of the American people.

On April 23, 2009 The Daily Green hosted its first annual Heart of Green Awards ceremony in the LEED Gold-certified Hearst Tower in New York City. Sponsored by the eBay Green Team as part of our 30 Days of Green program, the celebrity-studded event was an inspiring success.

In addition to honoring nominees in six main awards categories — Food, Politics, Media, Parenting, Consumer and Celebrity — we were thrilled this year to recognize for the first time a Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and a Local Hero, nominated by The Daily Green audience.

Each nominee deserves recognition. Read on for inspirational stories of real world environmental progress!

• The 2008 Heart of Green Award Winners

The 2009 Winners
11 honorees who took green to the mainstream.

The Acceptance Speeches
11 inspiring messages from our honorees (video)

Event Photos
Photos from the Green Carpet, the ceremony and a special dinner for honorees.

Media Coverage
From Access Hollywood to Ecorazzi ...

Lifetime Achievement
See why NRDC President Frances Beinecke deserves this Heart of Green.

The Food Visionaries
10 nominees delivering local, organic and healthy food.

Not Politics as Usual
10 political forces making green go mainstream.

Media Success Stories
10 people, groups and campaigns that help green go mainstream.

The Local Heroes
40 inspiring stories of real people making a real difference.

Godparents of Green
10 people and groups working to protect children's health.

The Color of Money
10 visionaries building the market for green consumers.

Mass Inspiration
3 beautiful women using celebrity to inspire the green audience.

From the Gift Bag...
The companies that provided items for guests and honorees.