Deadline Extended: Nominate Your Local Hero!

2009 Heart of Green Local Hero winner Greg Perry (second from left) poses with his guests Flora Brett (left) and Brian Muoio (right), along with The Daily Green's senior editor Dan Shapley.

Photo: Doug Goodman

> Nomination Guidelines

> About the Local Hero Award

> About 2009 Honoree Greg Perry

> 2009 Nominees

Nomination Guidelines

• Keep your nomination succinct — about 250 words. Explain why your nominee deserves to be recognized for bringing the green message to your community. If we highlight your nominee, your writing will appear on the site, so make a succinct persuasive case to The Daily Green audience.

• Attach a quality photo of the nominee that The Daily Green has permission to publish.

• Include e-mail and telephone contact information so we can reach both you and the nominee.

• E-mail nominations to TDG senior editor Dan Shapley (dshapley@hearst.com). Write "Heart of Green nomination" and the nominee's name in the subject line.

• State how you know or are affiliated with the nominee. Disclose any and all business interests.

• If you are nominating someone who has been previously nominated, you must submit a new nomination that adheres to the 2010 guidelines.

• Send nominations by Friday, March 5 Friday, March 12.

• Nominations may be published at the sole discretion of The Daily Green, and must adhere to our Community Guidelines and Terms of Use.

• Winners will be chosen at the sole discretion of The Daily Green.

About the 2010 Local Hero Award

The Heart of Green Awards honor individuals, companies and organizations who have helped green go mainstream. In 2009, The Daily Green hosted its first annual Heart of Green Awards ceremony, sponsored by Ebay, at the LEED-Gold certified Heart Tower in New York City. The 2009 awards winners included actresses and advocates Alicia Silverstone and Gloria Reuben, home garden evangelist Roger Doiron, children's health advocate Deirdre Imus, model and sustainable fashion advocate Summer Rayne Oakes, TV personality Maria Menounos, electronics recycling business owner Jennifer Canty, New York City and the Planet Green TV network. In addition to the awards for celebrities and heavyweights in the environmental movement, one award is given to a Local Hero nominated by The Daily Green's audience. In 2009, we received nominations that told us 40 inspiring stories about real people making a real difference.

Who in your community deserves to be recognized? Is it the organizer of a local farmers' market ... or the local farmer herself? Maybe it's the shopkeeper who refuses to sell suspect plastics ... or the construction worker who donated his time to weatherize neighborhood homes. Is it the mayor who installed solar power panels on the town hall ... or the watchdog who held the mayor accountable for a bad decision? Tell us, and the rest of The Daily Green audience, why your nominee deserves to be recognized with a Heart of Green Award. We'll recognize many of the nominees by publishing your accounts of their good deeds on The Daily Green, and the winner will receive his or her award at the Heart of Green Awards ceremony April 20 in New York City.

About Greg Perry, 2009 Local Hero

The 2009 Heart of Green Local Hero is Greg Perry, an Ohio school teacher who surmounted great obstacles to create "The Green Dream," the state's largest green products expo. The extraordinary class project raised $150,000 in 2008 and exceeded that mark in 2009 — all to create the Ultimate Green Classroom, a model classroom completely refurbished with sustainable, nontoxic materials, powered by the sun and open to the school and to the community. And he did it all while battling cancer. Adamant that the Green Dream live on, he taught his class by Skype and made a courageous appearance at The Daily Green's Heart of Green Awards that brought the audience to tears (watch the video below). (He's doing great by the way, and is back leading his class.)

2009 Nominees

The nominations for the 2009 Local Hero award included many worthy candidates. We celebrated dozens of nominees in this feature: 40 Inspiring Stories About Real People Making a Real Difference.