KGIB named finalist for National 2026 Cox Conserves Heroes Award – $30,000 top prize
Keep Golden Isles Beautiful is a finalist for the National 2026 Cox Conserves Heroes Award and needs the community’s votes to win the $30,000 top prize.
Voting begins on September 28th and ends on October 4th. KGIB will post the voting page link via social media platforms as soon as it is live and asks that Golden Islanders spread the word far and wide encouraging folks across the country to cast a vote for KGIB. Anyone anywhere can vote and KGIB hopes to rally the masses to bring the $30,000 prize home to the Golden Isles. The top vote getter in each of three categories will win the $30,000 top prize, followed by $15,000 and $5,000 prizes.
KGIB’s signature project, the annual Marsh Madness effort, is the central point of the organization’s nomination. Sponsored by Georgia-Pacific Brunswick Cellulose, the Marsh Madness salt marsh litter removal effort held each March has pulled 77 TONS of trash, including 724 tires and countless television sets, large appliances and toilets out of Glynn County and City of Brunswick salt marshes. In 2026 alone, volunteers removed 8.4 TONS of trash in 57 March salt marsh and marsh adjacent cleanups. In the Golden Isles, it is nobody’s job to remove salt marsh trash, and KGIB volunteers and community partners step in to help keep the estuarine environment as trash-free as possible. With just a two-person staff, KGIB relies upon an army of dedicated volunteers, committed community partners and supporters to keep the Marshes of Glynn clean and beautiful.
Cox Conserves Heroes is part of Cox Enterprises’ national sustainability initiative, designed to recognize nonprofits, youth and adult volunteers making a positive impact on our environment. These Heroes are actively reducing or reusing carbon/energy and water or are minimizing waste sent to landfills or protecting and restoring natural habitats and species in line with our company’s own sustainability goals. Award categories include Youth, Adult and Nonprofit (KGIB’s category).
Annually, the program awards a total of $150,000 from the James M. Cox Foundation to nine nonprofits selected by the program’s winners. The program includes three first-place grants, three second-place grants and three third-place grants. The winner of the nonprofit category receives the Jim Kennedy Conservation Award in honor of Mr. Kennedy, chairman emeritus of Cox Enterprises, chairman of the James M. Cox Foundation, and an environmentalist who started the Cox Conserves sustainability program in 2007.
As soon as the voting link is live, KGIB will post it on the KGIB.ORG website, include it on the KGIB Facebook, Instagram and Tik-Tok social media platforms and send via the KGIB e-newsletter.
For more info: KGIB.ORG / info.kbgib@gmail.com / 912-279-1490.
Photos are scenes from the 2026 Marsh Madness cleanup
