Fifteen Hartselle area business, institutions and public places have received Hartselle Beautification Awards for 2014.

Carolyn Wallace, director of the Hartselle Beautification Association, said this is the first time in years that the association has been able to give awards.

“Since I have been director, we have not been able to give out the awards because of all of the projects we have been working on,” Wallace said. “We didn’t have any extra money left at the end of the year to be able to give awards. This year, we decided that we were going to start giving awards again.”

Wallace said HBA solicited nominations from the community earlier this year. Each of the nominations were evaluated by judges, which determined who would receive awards this year.

She is hopeful that more residents will participate in the nomination process next year.

“We’re going to take applications all year long,” Wallace said. “If anyone sees a beautiful yard at a local business or public place, you can nominate them for next year’s awards.”

In the future, she also hopes to add more awards for residential locations.

“We’d like to have a Clean Citizen’s Award for those who do a great job maintaining their yards,” Wallace said. “I hope it would encourage more in our city to maintain their homes.”

Those receiving beautification awards include: Sedona Steak House, Redstone Federal Credit Union, Hannah’s Lawn & Landscape, F.E. Burleson Elementary School, Burger King, McDonalds, Family Security Credit Union, William Bradford Huie Library of Hartselle, Heritage Funeral Home, E.A.R.T.H Park, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Historic Hartselle Train Depot, Hartselle Housing Authority, Hartselle Fire Station # 2 and Peck Funeral Home.