Announcing our 2024 Cox Conserves Heroes Winners

October 30, 2024 – ATLANTA – Cox Enterprises has named Tixie Fowler, Hunter Guthrie and Keep Oklahoma Beautiful the winners of the 2024 Cox Conserves Heroes program.

Cox Conserves Heroes is part of Cox Enterprises' national sustainability initiative, designed to recognize youth and adult volunteers, as well as nonprofits, making a positive impact on our environment.

The 2024 winners earned $30,000 each from the James M. Cox Foundation for the environmental nonprofit of their choice to continue improving their communities. In total, the James M. Cox Foundation has awarded more than $100 million to environmental and conservation causes.

Tixie Fowler of Atlanta, Georgia, won the Groundbreaker Award for her work as an environmental educator and conservationist. The Georgia Chapter of the American Fisheries Society named Fowler "Conservationist of the Year" in 2023 for inspiring students, volunteers and federal agencies to unite in restoring the most heavily impacted tributary in Atlanta's Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.  

Hunter Guthrie of Vienna, Virginia, was named the winner in the youth category and received the Planet Protector Award for his commitment to waste reduction. Once Guthrie learned that 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food waste, he was determined to take action in his own community — while also helping end hunger. At 16 years old, Guthrie has donated over 700,000 meals that would otherwise have ended up in landfills through a nonprofit he founded in 2022. 

Keep Oklahoma Beautiful was awarded the Jim Kennedy Conservation Award, named in honor of Cox Enterprises Chairman Emeritus and James M. Cox Foundation Chairman Jim Kennedy, an environmentalist who started Cox Conserves in 2007. This year alone, volunteers for Keep Oklahoma Beautiful have collected 3.4 million pounds of trash and cleaned up more than 1,200 miles of roads and 31,000 acres of public land, saving the state of Oklahoma $7.1 million in litter remediation costs.  

The second- and third-place winners in each category received $15,000 and $5,000, respectively, for their nonprofit of choice.

Adult:

• Second place: Clint Hogbin — West Virginia
• Third place: Alyssia Richardson — Colorado 

 Youth: 

• Second place: Jack Dalton — New Hampshire
• Third place: Genshu Price — Hawaii  

Nonprofit: 

• Second place: Calusa Waterkeeper Inc — Florida
• Third place: Wildlands Restoration Volunteers — Colorado 

"We're thrilled to congratulate our 2024 Cox Conserves Heroes winners and finalists," said Maury Wolfe, vice president of corporate responsibility and social impact at Cox Enterprises. "Their dedication to community service and environmental care is remarkable. Each nominee embodies the spirit of innovation and action needed for a sustainable future, inspiring others to get involved and — make a difference. We look forward to seeing their continued progress and impact."

About Cox Enterprises
Cox Enterprises is dedicated to empowering people to build a better future for the next generation. Cox is a leader in the broadband, automotive and media industries, as well as a leading investment platform with strategic positions in emerging technologies driving the future of agriculture, renewable energy, healthtech and public sector software. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Cox is a global company with $23 billion in annual revenues and a proud history spanning more than 125 years. To learn more about Cox and its commitment to its people, planet and communities, visit coxenterprises.com.