Channel 2 WSB-TV and The Trust For Public Land Launch Atlanta's 2015 Cox Conserves Heroes Awards Program

Call for nominations; $20,000 to be donated to local environmental nonprofits

ATLANTA, July 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Channel 2 WSB-TV, in partnership with The Trust for Public Land, today launched Atlanta's 2015 Cox Conserves Heroes program to honor local environmental volunteers. Nominations are being accepted at wsbtv.com/coxconservesheroes for Metro Atlanta volunteers who are creating, preserving or enhancing outdoor spaces.

A total of $20,000 will be donated to local environmental nonprofits on behalf of the winner and finalists. Nominee activities must be performed on a volunteer basis and may not be part of an individual's paid job.

A judging panel of civic and environmental leaders will select three finalists who will then compete to be named Atlanta's 2015 Cox Conserves Hero. The winner will be chosen through an online public vote.

Atlanta's Cox Conserves Heroes Timeline:

• Nominations: July 13 – August 17
• Voting: October 5-26
• Winner Announcement: Mid November

This is the seventh year the Cox Conserves Heroes program has taken place in Atlanta. The previous recipients of Atlanta's Cox Conserves Heroes award are Bob Scott, John Gordon, Donna Shearer, Na'Taki Osborne-Jelks, Angel Poventud and Don Wells.

Financial support from Cox Conserves Heroes has helped create community gardens, build trails, plant trees, provide environmental education, maintain parks, as well as create outdoor classrooms and certified wildlife habitats at area schools throughout Metro Atlanta.

The following Metro Atlanta organizations have received financial support from the Cox Conserves Heroes program: Atlanta Audubon Society, Elachee Nature Science Center, Friends of English Avenue, Georgia Organics, Go Outdoors USA, Historic Fourth Ward Park Conservancy, Johns Creek Community Wildlife Habitat, Keeping It Wild, Kirkwood Neighbors Organization, Mountain Stewards, Park Pride, R.E.D.E.E.M Community Outreach, Save Georgia's Hemlocks, South Fork Conservancy, Sustainable Norcross, Trees Atlanta, and the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance.

The Cox Conserves Heroes program was created through a partnership between The Trust for Public Land and Cox Enterprises, the parent company of Channel 2 WSB-TV, to honor everyday volunteers. Cox Conserves Heroes also takes place in Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Virginia. Through the Cox Conserves Heroes program, more than $525,000 has been donated to environmental nonprofits and nearly 150 volunteers have been recognized.

For more information, visit CoxConservesHeroes.com or Facebook.

Social Media: #CoxConservesHeroes and #CoxConservesHero

About Channel 2 WSB-TV  
The ABC Affiliate is part of Cox Media Group and ranks as Atlanta's number one local television station. The station also operates its website, wsbtv.com, its mobile site, wap.wsbtv.com, and airs MeTV on its digital channel 2.2.

Cox Media Group is an integrated broadcasting, publishing, direct marketing and digital media company that includes the national advertising rep firms of CoxReps.  Additionally, CMG owns Cox Target Media, which operates Valpak, one of North America's leading direct marketing companies, and Savings.com, a leading online source for savings.  The company's operations currently include 14 broadcast television stations and one local cable channel, 59 radio stations, seven daily newspapers and more than a dozen non-daily publications, and more than 100 digital services.  CMG currently operates in more than 20 media markets and reaches approximately 52 million Americans weekly, including more than 31 million TV viewers, more than 3.5 million print and online newspaper readers, and more than 14 million radio listeners.  For more information about Cox Media Group, please check us out online at www.coxmediagroup.com.

About The Trust for Public Land: 
The Trust for Public Land creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. Nearly ten million people live within a ten-minute walk of a Trust for Public Land park, garden, or natural area, and millions more visit these sites every year. Learn more at tpl.org.

About Cox Conserves:
Launched in 2007 by Chairman Jim Kennedy, Cox Conserves is Cox Enterprises' national sustainability program. Cox Conserves focuses on reducing waste and energy consumption, as well as conserving water. The program engages each of the company's major subsidiaries (Cox Communications, Cox Automotive and Cox Media Group) and encourages Cox Enterprises' 50,000 employees and their families to engage in eco-friendly practices.

The company's sustainability goals are to send zero waste to landfill by 2024 and become carbon and water neutral by 2044. The company also presents the Cox Conserves Sustainability Survey, a nationwide survey that examines sustainability opportunities and challenges for small and medium-sized businesses.

SOURCE Cox Conserves

For further information: Jami Buck-Vance, Cox Enterprises, 678-645-0074, jami.buck-vance@coxinc.com or Kristen Anderson, The Trust for Public Land, 415-800-5178, kristen.anderson@tpl.org