SALISBURY — The deadline for nominations for the 2019 Elizabeth Duncan Koontz Humanitarian Awards has been extended to Jan. 31.

The committee decided to push back the deadline from Jan. 11 to allow more time for the community to nominate a person or group.

The Elizabeth Duncan Koontz Committee, a subcommittee of the Salisbury Human Relations Council, will honor someone in the community who has given back. Koontz was one of the organizers of re-establishing the Human Relations Council in 1985.

“We’re looking for someone who has the ideals of Elizabeth Duncan Koontz,” said Dora Virginia Wood, the committee chairwoman. “She was an educator and a humanitarian. She was a person who was active in her community. She helped people.”

Wood said nominees can specialize in anything but should be people who think of others before they think of themselves. The award recognizes people or groups in the Salisbury-Rowan community who have made contributions to improve human relations.

Last year’s winners included Tonya Cross, the head of Vine Event Planning, coordinator for Living Books Documentary and a local art exhibit, and founder of Peace Circle; Herman Peterson, a senior Army ROTC instructor at West Rowan High School and owner and director of Kiddie Land Kindergarten; and Melissa Summers, president of Thelma Smith Foundation.

Wood, the goddaughter of Koontz, said she’s glad she can keep her legacy alive with the humanitarian award.

“I knew her as a child growing up,” she said. “It’s good that we have people in the community who have her ideas and standards.”

Wood said Koontz would be proud the awards have continued through the years.

The 2019 awards ceremony will be at 6 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Salisbury Civic Center.

“It’s a great honor to receive the award and present the award,” Wood said.

To nominate a person or a group, visit salisburync.gov/EDKnomination or pick up an application from city Human Relations Manager Anne Little at 132 N. Main St.