SALISBURY — The city of Salisbury is calling for sponsors to support its trip to Denver, Co., for the National Civic League’s All-America City Award competition.

Salisbury was announced as one of 20 finalists for the award in March. The award, which recognizes neighborhoods, villages, towns, cities, countries, tribes and regions that involve community members in innovative, inclusive and effective efforts to help solve challenges, is given to 10 communities every year.

Representatives from the city and local students will be traveling to Denver from June 17 to 19 to give a final presentation to judges.

A contribution of $1,000 allows one student from Knox Middle School, the YMCA or Norvell Children’s Theater to go on the trip. The Salisbury Mini Funk Factory Marching Band has also been invited and any additional donations would help reduce its expenses.

The contributions will cover the flight, hotel and meals.

This year’s competition focused on youth and the actions communities have taken to make sure children are healthy and have avenues to succeed in school and life.

In its application for the award, the city included the Norvell Children’s Theater, the Knox Middle School co-principals program and Fit for Motion, a collaborative effort between Novant Health and the Rowan County YMCA to fight childhood obesity.

According to the National Civic League, finalists and winners of the award often find they have an easier time bringing businesses and residents to their areas. They also see increases in tourism, grants and bond ratings, as well as a renewed sense of community pride and teamwork.

Salisbury won an All-America City Award in 1961.

The community can also participate in the social media portion of the competition by creating original posts, liking, commenting, retweeting and sharing posts about Salisbury’s youth programs on Facebook and Twitter. They should use the hashtag #AAC16, #Salisbury2AAC and #AllAmericaCity in posts and retweets.

The Rowan County Chamber of Commerce has created a GoFundMe account for people to donate funds that is available on the chamber’s website (www.rowanchamber.com).

All checks should be made payable to Salisbury All-America City and mailed to the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 559, Salisbury, NC, 28145-0559.

Contact Elaine Spalding, chamber president, at 704-633-4221 or espalding@rowanchamber.com for more information.