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Attorney General Josh Stein Honors Two Wilmington Area North Carolinians with 2023 Dogwood Awards

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Contact:
Nazneen Ahmed (919) 716-0060

(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today honored two North Carolinians in the Wilmington area with the Attorney General’s Dogwood Award. These awards are given out annually to recognize people who are working to improve the health, safety, and well-being of their fellow North Carolinians.

Recipients in the Wilmington area are:

The Carousel Child Advocacy Center

“The Carousel Child Advocacy Center helps victims of the worst kinds of child abuse navigate complex emotional trauma and become healthier adults,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “In honoring the Carousel Center, I am honoring the survivors of child sexual abuse who work hard to move past the abuse they endure. Each of these survivors is forever impacted, and we must all do everything in our power to prevent abuse, hold abusers accountable, and help survivors heal.”

The Carousel Child Advocacy Center is a nonprofit child advocacy center located in Wilmington.

Ernestine Bryant

“The right to cast your ballot safely and securely and know it will be counted is central to our democracy,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “Ms. Bryant has been a dedicated precinct chief judge for years in Brunswick County. She and other poll workers like her are the backbone of our elections.”

Ernestine Bryant is a precinct chief judge with the Brunswick County Board of Elections.

The 2023 Dogwood Award recipients are:

  1. Lynn Guilliams, Fuquay-Varina Middle School
  2. Baker Burleson, parent advocate
  3. Survivors of sexual assault, Accepted by Amy Feath, Carousel Child Advocacy Center
  4. Sen. Tom McInnis
  5. Nidhi Sachdeva, North Carolina Association of County Commissioners
  6. Diannee Carden-Glenn, ekiM For Change
  7. District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch, Prosecutorial District 43
  8. Detective Tori Kennedy, Burlington Police Department
  9. Detective Josh Schultz, Burlington Police Department
  10. Jan and Ron Kimble, Jamie Kimble Foundation for Courage
  11. Rashida Gittens, domestic violence victor and advocate
  12. Catherine Johnson, Guilford Family Justice Center
  13. Philip Cooper, Operation Gateway
  14. Mayor Preston Blakely, Town of Fletcher
  15. Officer Robert Daughety, Jacksonville Police Department
  16. Officer Sarah Butler, Jacksonville Police Department
  17. Sheriff Lowell Griffin, Henderson County
  18. Sheriff Clee Atkinson, Edgecombe County
  19. Kara Fox, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  20. Maria Teresa Maza, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  21. Ryan Etheridge, Cleveland County Schools
  22. Kimberly Jones, Chapel Hill High School
  23. Mayor Zeb Smathers, Town of Canton
  24. Rep. Kyle Hall
  25. Cady Thomas
  26. Cassandra Brooks, Medicaid Expansion advocate
  27. Firefighter Kevin Murphy, on behalf of the Charlotte Fire Department
  28. Captain Jeff Bright, on behalf of the Charlotte Fire Department
  29. Senator H.M. Michaux, Jr.
  30. Judge Shirley Fulton, North Carolina Superior Court
  31. Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock, Appalachian State University
  32. Chancellor Harold L. Martin, Sr., North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
  33. Jonas Swartz, MD, MPH, Duke Health
  34. Ernestine Bryant, Brunswick County

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