Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Contest for 10 Natural Wonders of North Carolina

Land for Tomorrow, a group that has promoted conservation and environmental preservation in North Carolina, has a contest for everyone: What are the 10 Natural Wonders of North Carolina? The group is running an online contest to come up with the best list, and its judges will include former Govs. Jim Hunt and Jim Holshouser, former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Henry Frye and a host of celebrities that include author Charles Frazier, lawyer D.G. Martin, Grady-White boatbuilder Eddie Smith and former Tar Heel basketball great Eric Montross.

You can learn more about the contest at the Land for Tomorrow Facebook Page or at the group's website at www.landfortomorrow.org.

Drawing up these lists are fun. I drew up a list of seven natural wonders of the state in a 2006 blogpost and wound up with eight. Here's a link to that post.

The public will have until Thursday May 6 to nominate their favorite natural wonder or wonders, defined by contest organizers as "any landscape, natural feature, wildlife or plant life that is unique to North Carolina and should be considered among the state's greatest natural wonders." The panel will narrow the list to an undisclosed number and a popular online vote will determine the final list.

While the contest is running, prizes from N.C. vendors will be awarded each weekday -- including art, outdoors equipment and music, and a grand prize will be awarded at the end when the winners are announced May. 18.
Let's see, my new list would include Ocracoke's Silver Lake, the campus of Warren Wilson College, Pilot Mountain, Table Rock, Duke Gardens, the fall line on the Roanoke River where the rockfish swarm… say, wonder if there's a way to nominate a barbecue joint? And which one?

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