Keep Hall Beautiful's Cindy Reed was awarded the Barbara Mason Award for Executive Director of the Year at the Keep Georgia Beautiful Awards Luncheon on Wednesday in Atlanta.

"Cindy truly deserves this award," said Rick Foote, Hall County natural resources coordinator and president of the Keep Hall Beautiful board of directors.

"She took an organization that was in a state of decline and raised it up so we have a fully functioning board and a place of impact in the community."

Nearly 300 attended the 32nd annual awards luncheon at the Emory Conference Center Hotel.

The annual program honored individuals and organizations working to improve Georgia's environment.

Keep Hall Beautiful is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating people about environmental stewardship. It is one of 78 affiliates of Keep Georgia Beautiful around the state.

Reed said she was nominated for the award and did not know ahead of time that she would receive it.

"My board surprised me," Reed said. "You have to be nominated and they put together a list of accomplishments we've had this past year and submitted it to the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation."

Reed said the board included information about Keep Hall Beautiful's programs such as America Recycles day, monthly community cleanups and the Spring Chicken Festival.

"When I accepted the award I told them it's definitely a team effort," Reed said. "I have a wonderful staff, a fabulous board of directors and wonderful volunteers. That's the reason this organization is successful."

Lynn Cobb, manager of Keep Georgia Beautiful, said Reed was selected in large part because of how she was able to bring new energy and direction to an organization that was suffering following the death of its previous director.

"The judging was very close because we do have great affiliates," Cobb said. "But Cindy certainly came out on top because of the work she's done to turn the program around."