Anyone can nominate a local hero! Award winners come from all walks of life: students, civic and non-profit organizations, individuals, community groups, sports teams, and more. Self-nominations are encouraged!
The Beautify Texas Awards recognize efforts made by individuals and organizations to enhance their communities and protect Texas’ environment. These awards range in honoring extraordinary volunteers, professionals, youth, educators, businesses, local/civic governments, organizations, and specific projects and programs. They are organized into two main categories, Individual Awards and Organization Awards.
The 2025 Beautify Texas Award winners will be announced in February 2025, and celebrated at the KTB Conference on May 6, 2025
Nominations for the 2026 Beautify Texas Awards will open in October 2025. Date TBA
Watch the webinar recording with tips to craft a winning nomination.
The most prestigious award Keep Texas Beautiful presents, this once-in-a-lifetime professional distinction is awarded to an individual who has provided outstanding leadership in improving and enhancing the environment of their community, the state of Texas, and beyond.
This award recognizes an adult individual who supports the mission of KTB through extraordinary volunteer efforts and contributes to the betterment of their community.
This award recognizes the efforts and leadership of youth (as individuals and their collective efforts as a group or team) to beautify the community and create cleaner, greener campuses, parks, and neighborhoods. A youth individual is defined as a student (elementary through postgraduate), scout, youth advisory board member, etc.
This award recognizes the efforts of an educator who provides instruction/programming to Pre-K through college students to encourage youth involvement and promote the KTB mission through environmental education.
Recognizes a business with sound environmental principles that supports the Keep Texas Beautiful mission, including locally owned, state, or national businesses.
Recognizes outstanding contributions by civic organizations and city/county/state government departments, divisions, or agencies supporting the Keep Texas Beautiful mission through a specific, continual program.
The Outstanding Project award recognizes contributions by civic organizations and city, county, and state government departments that support the KTB mission through a specific one-time project or event from the previous year.
Recognizes outstanding contributions to the Texas environment made by educational institutions, city government departments, divisions or agencies, media outlets, and nonprofit and youth-oriented organizations
to provide instruction/programming that promotes the KTB mission through environmental education. This award celebrates the leadership of local organizations in beautifying communities and creating cleaner, greener campuses, parks, and neighborhoods.
He devoted his life to making Texas cleaner and more beautiful and encouraged others to do the same. O.P. was affectionately known as “Old Push Broom,” and was well known for his catchphrases, such as “Nice people don’t litter” and “Be a beauty bug, not a litterbug.”
Schnabel’s hometown of San Antonio has a park, apartment complex, and clean-up week named after him. The O.P. Schnabel Senior Citizen Award recognizes citizens over the age of 55 who show leadership in improving the local community’s environment, just as Schnabel did.
Ruthe enjoyed leading cleanups and often got her own hands dirty to beautify her city. She believed youth are the future leaders of Texas and devoted her time and energy to them, making it very fitting the Youth Leadership Awards are named in her honor.
After retiring from education in 1971, Sadie Ray and her husband Waldo continued to serve actively in the Beautify San Antonio Association. She visited elementary schools to involve them in recycling and conservation projects. In 1992, the City of San Antonio named the Graff Pavilion at O.P. Schnabel Park for them.
The Sadie Ray Graff Educator Awards recognize those in the field of education who encourage or demonstrate efforts to promote the KTB mission through environmental education.
Acers, a former FBI agent, secured the partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation and named the Governor’s Community Achievement Awards while working as the executive assistant to Gov. Allan Shivers.
Ebby was well-known as the “First Lady of Real Estate,” and sold selling homes in the Dallas area for more than 60 years. Ebby Halliday Realtors is now one of the largest privately owned residential real estate firms in the country.
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