The Carroll County Environmental Advisory Council announced the winners of their “Project of the Year” award, a program that recognizes excellence in the fields of environmental, sustainability, and community leadership. This year, the EAC created a new category, Project of the Year. Together with the Board of County Commissioners, CCA Maryland’s Living Reef Action Campaign was recognized for this award. CCA’s Living Reef Action Campaign is an oyster restoration project and educational campaign aimed at raising awareness and restoring the Chesapeake’s once popular three dimensional oyster reefs. There were five nominations tied to the project. Students Summer Miles and Brett Hackett, who founded the project more than a year ago, were recognized for their work collecting and inspring a community to recycle oyster shells within the area’s local restaurants. Rick Elyar and Mike Wissel, leaders from the Coastal Conservation Association worked closely with the students and local restaurants to establish this program. With help from Oyster Recovery Partnership, shells are ultimately taken to the University of Maryland’s Horn Point Oyster Lab Hatchery where they are reused as incubators for oyster larvae and returned to parts of the Chesapeake Bay where they bolster wild oyster populations. Del. Susan Krebs also recognized CCA Maryland with a state proclamation for the Project of the Year.