COVINGTON, Ga. — Newton County is celebrating its 200th anniversary all year long and the Newton County Bicentennial Committee is marking the occasion by recognizing local residents and businesses.

The Newton County Bicentennial Awards will be given to Newton County residents or businesses in 22 categories as nominated by their peers, neighbors, friends and fellow county residents.

Nominations are open for the awards, which will be presented to the winners during the Newton County Bicentennial Birthday Celebration scheduled for December. Once the honorees are nominated, public voting will run from Sept. 20 through Oct. 15.

Honorees can be nominated by visiting https://sites.google.com/co.newton.ga.us/newtoncobicentennialawards through Sept. 10. 

The Awards are designed to "commemorate and recognize the work and legacy of local residents and Newton County businesses who reflect a high level of integrity, character, ethics, longevity in service and community commitment," a news release stated.

To nominate a person or business for a Bicentennial Award, the following criteria must be met:

• An application form, found at https://sites.google.com/co.newton.ga.us/newtoncobicentennialawards must be completed;

• The nominee must be a Newton County resident or business;

• Each nominee must have three letters of recommendation;

• A brief description of why the applicant should receive an award must be included;

• Any minor must have parental consent.

All documents unable to be submitted through the online voting portal can be submitted to the Bicentennial Committee at newton200@co.newton.ga.us.

The Bicentennial Award winners will be notified in writing and the winners will be announced after all votes are tallied in December.

For additional information, email newton200@co.newton.ga.us or visit https://www.co.newton.ga.us/504/Newton-County-200.