The North Carolina Society of Historians held its annual awards banquet on October 20, 2012, in Mooresville, NC, at the Hilton Garden Inn.  Awards were presented in several categories relating to local, regional, or statewide historical people, events, or places.  The categories included were as follows: museums, newspaper articles and magazine articles, books relating to history, family history, religious history, historical fiction, genealogical/historical/folklore society publications, publishers, newsletters, journals, multimedia, and Historian of the Year.  The North Carolina Society of Historians was established in 1941 for the purpose of collecting, preserving, and perpetuating North Carolina’s rich history and for recognizing those persons who fulfill the society’s objectives. 

Haywood County was well represented at the annual awards program.  Attending from Haywood County were Evelyn Coltman, Richard Coltman, Ann Melton Malinda Messer, Lee Starnes, Peter Sterling, Lorna Sterling, Lee Starnes, Nancy Watkins, and the Reverend Roy Watkins.  Fourteen individuals from Haywood County garnered six awards that included eleven entries at the annual celebration.  Out of 524 eligible entries, there were 130 winners in 2012. 

• Paul Green Multi Media Award: Ted Carr, Doug Chambers, Evelyn Coltman, Malinda Messer, and the Historic Preservation Committee of Bethel Rural Community Organization for the DVD, Walking in the Footsteps of Those Who Came before Us
• Paul Green Multi Media Award: Buddy Melton, Milan Miller, and Mark Winchester for their Songs from Jackson County and Songs from Haywood County
• The Evelina D. Miller Museum Award: The Southeastern Jurisdictional Heritage Center of Lake Junaluska, Nancy Watkins, Director
• The Willie Parker Peace History Book Award: Views from the Past – Main Street Waynesville, 1896-1931 by Ann Melton and Henry Foy, The Early History of Love Lane, The Love Family of Haywood County, The Early History of Woolsey Heights” Millionaire’s Row,” The Early History of Frog Level - all by Ann Melton. 
• The Willie Parker Peace History Book Award: Images of America: Waynesville by Michael Beadle & Peter Yurko
• The Paul Jehu Barringer Jr. and Sr. Award of Excellence: Peter V. Sterling for his Haywood Snapshot Project

In addition, another book with Haywood County connections won an award:

The Robert Bruce Cooke Family History Book Award: Forks of the Pigeon, Memoirs by Jim Pressley, a Bethel native, who wrote about his family and his growing up years in Bethel.