Congratulations to the winners of the 2011 Heritage Excellence Awards! The recipients will be recognized during an April 8 ceremony at the Oregon Heritage Conference in Astoria.  The Oregon Heritage Excellence Awards recognize individuals, businesses and organizations for outstanding efforts on behalf of Oregon heritage and raise the quality of heritage-oriented activities.

This year's honorees are:

• Luper Cemetery Preservation and Restoration Project, Eugene, for its extraordinary efforts to preserve and restore the integrity of the historic cemetery.
  
• The Timberline Lodge Partnership of the U.S. Forest Service, The Friends of Timberline, and R.L.K and Co., for an outstanding public-private collaboration to steward and preserve a national historic landmark.
  
• Clatsop Community College/Columbia Pacific Preservation, for the collaboration that resulted in the establishment of certificate and degree programs in historic preservation at Clatsop CC and in a nonprofit entity that both supports and benefits from those programs.
  
• Paul Caruana and Brian Faherty, Astoria, for their collective improvements on the Norblad and Lewis buildings, and the even larger impact their work has had on the renewed viability of downtown Astoria.
  
• Marcia Allen, Cottage Grove, for her lifetime accomplishments in researching, interpreting and promoting the history and heritage of Cottage Grove.
  
• Patsy Jones, Alsea, for her exceptional work to inspire interest in the documentation, preservation and celebration of local Oregon history.
  
• Neal Maine, Seaside, for his outstanding contributions in the preservation of Native American archaeological sites on the northern Oregon coast.

For more information, go to http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/OHC/award_info.shtml