Press Release

Greater Raleigh CVB Announces Award Winners;
The News & Observer and Town of Cary's
Mary Henderson Honored at Annual Luncheon

Media Contact: Martin Armes; (919) 645-2654; marmes@visitraleigh.com
 

RALEIGH, N.C. (July 13, 2005) – The News & Observer and the Town of Cary's Mary Henderson were honored today with major awards at the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau's 18th annual luncheon recognizing the area's billion dollar visitor industry.

Here's a rundown of the awards and the winners:

Thad Eure, Jr. Memorial Award
The News & Observer
The Bureau's most prestigious award normally goes to an individual or individuals who have made major contributions to the local hospitality industry during the previous 12 months. The award is named for Eure - the late restaurateur, respected businessman and community leader. For the first time ever since giving the award since 1988, the Bureau honored a company.

The News & Observer was recognized for its positive coverage of many of the visitor-oriented events the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau helped bring to the area and for the support for the cultural events so important to residents and visitors alike. In the past year, there was unprecedented coverage of the sixth year of the CIAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament, the PONY Softball Fastpitch Nationals, the NCAA Women's College Cup, the Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris art exhibition and the announcement of the 2006-08 MEAC Basketball Tournament booking. The fair coverage of the convention center project and other downtown development that ultimately benefit the Bureau's visitor promotion efforts was acknowledged along with the tremendous support of the RaleighNow cultural events web site.

John B. Ross, Jr. Leadership Award
Mary Henderson, Director, Cary Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources
The GRCVB's John B. Ross, Jr. Leadership Award recognizes an outstanding executive management-level individual in the Wake County hospitality industry who displays exceptional leadership skills. The award is given in honor of John Ross who was the GRCVB Chairman of the Board of Directors in 1995-96. The award exemplifies the courage, leadership, dedication and inspiration that John portrayed in the hospitality industry for more than 20 years.

The 10th annual award goes to Mary Henderson for helping transform the Town of Cary into a cultural, live music and sports hotbed. As Director of the Cary Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources for over 10 years, Henderson worked with various partners to establish the CaryNow.com web site as the official Cary event information site, helped develop Cary Lazy Days into one of the Carolina's premier arts and crafts festivals and positioned the Koka Booth Amphitheatre's recognition as the nation's best small concert venue. Also under her direction, Cary served as host city for the 2005 (and 2006) State Games of North Carolina, co-hosted the PONY Softball Fastpitch Nationals four times, took over management and operations of the SAS Soccer Park, hosted the 2003 and 2004 Great American Cross Country Festival, hosted the 2003 and 2004 NCAA Women's College Cup with three more years of Final Four Soccer on tap, hosted the 2004 ACC Men's and Women's Soccer Championships and oversaw operations of top-notch baseball, softball and tennis venues. The events previously mentioned account for tens of thousands of hotel room nights over the course of a year and tens of millions in economic impact to our area.

The GRCVB's annual luncheon was held at the Raleigh Convention and Conference Center. John K. Smith, retired General Manager of the Georgia World Congress Center, delivered the keynote speech and shared lessons about the significant economic benefits gained for the entire downtown Atlanta area and how the business community leveraged those convention and visitor opportunities.

The Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau is a non-profit agency enhancing the economic growth and development of Raleigh and Wake County by increasing visitor and convention business.