ATLANTA, Oct. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Channel 2 WSB-TV y The Trust for Public Land today announced Imran Battla, John Gordon y Bill Lide as finalists for Atlanta's 5th annual Cox Conserves Heroes program. Voting is open to the general public at http://www.wsbtv.com/coxconservesheroes a través de 5 p.m. sobre  Oct. 28.

The program recognizes volunteers who are creating, preserving or enhancing outdoor spaces. The winner will receive $10,000 to donate to his or her selected nonprofit beneficiary, and the finalists each will receive $2,500 for their nonprofits of choice.

The finalists' nonprofits of choice are:

• Imran Battla: West Atlanta Watershed Alliance
• John Gordon: Friends of English Avenue
• Bill Lide: Park Pride

A judging panel of civic and environmental leaders selected the three finalists. The finalist who receives the most votes will be announced as Atlanta's 2013 Cox Conserves Hero on Nov. 12.

The judging panel included:  EarthShare of Georgia's Executive Director Madeline Reamy, Environmental Protection Agency's Sustainable Communities/ Partnerships Lead Camilla Warren, Georgia Environmental Finance Authority's Land Conservation Program Manager Andrew Szwak, Sustainable Atlanta's Executive Director Suzanne Burnes and Sustainability Expert Polly Sattler.

Donna Shearer, Na'Taki Osborne-Jelks, Angel Poventud y Don Wells son Atlanta's previous Cox Conserves Heroes and also served as judges this year.

Financial support from Cox Conserves Heroes has helped build trails, plant trees, provide environmental education, maintain parks, as well as create outdoor classrooms and certified wildlife habitats at area schools throughout Metro Atlanta.

The following Metro Atlanta organizations have received financial support from the Cox Conserves Heroes program: Elachee Nature Science Center, Georgia Organics, Historic Fourth Ward Park Conservancy, Johns Creek Community Wildlife Habitat, Keeping It Wild, Kirkwood Neighbors Organization, Mountain Stewards, Park Pride, R.E.D.E.E.M Community Outreach, Save Georgia's Hemlocks, Sustainable Norcross, Trees Atlantay el West Atlanta Watershed Alliance.

The Cox Conserves Heroes program was created through a partnership between The Trust for Public Land y Cox Enterprises, the parent company of Channel 2 WSB-TV, to honor everyday volunteers. The program also runs in Arizona, Louisiana, Orange County (Calif.), San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara (Calif.) and Virginia. More than $350,000 has been donated to local nonprofits and more than 100 volunteers have been honored through the Cox Conserves Heroes program.

Para más información, visita  CoxConservesHeroes.com or Facebook.com/CoxConservesHeroes.

Social Media: #CoxConservesHeroes and #CoxConservesHero

About Channel 2 WSB-TV
The ABC Affiliate is part of Cox Media Group and ranks as Atlanta's number one local television station. The station also operates its website, wsbtv.com, its mobile site, wap.wsbtv.com, and airs MeTV on its digital channel 2.2.

Cox Media Group is an integrated broadcasting, publishing, direct marketing and digital media company that includes the national advertising rep firms of CoxReps. Additionally, CMG owns Cox Target Media, which operates Valpak, one of North America's leading direct marketing companies, and Savings.com, a leading online source for savings. The company's operations currently include 14 broadcast television stations and one local cable channel, 57 radio stations, eight daily newspapers and more than a dozen non-daily publications, and more than 100 digital services. CMG currently operates in more than 20 media markets and reaches approximately 52 million Americans weekly, including more than 30 million TV viewers, more than 4 million print and online newspaper readers, and 14 million radio listeners. For more information about Cox Media Group, visit www.coxmediagroup.com.   

About The Trust for Public Land
Founded in 1972, The Trust for Public Land is the leading nonprofit working to conserve land for people. Operating from more than 30 offices nationwide, The Trust for Public Land has protected more than three million acres from the inner city to the wilderness and helped generate more than $34 mil millones in public funds for conservation. Nearly ten million people live within a ten-minute walk of a Trust for Public Land park, garden, or natural area, and millions more visit these sites every year.

About Cox Conserves
Launched in 2007 by Chairman Jim Kennedy, Cox Conserves is Cox Enterprises' national sustainability program. Cox Conserves focuses on reducing waste and energy consumption, as well as conserving water. The program engages each of the company's major subsidiaries (Cox Communications, Manheim, Cox Media Group and AutoTrader.com) and encourages Cox Enterprises' 50,000 employees and their families to engage in eco-friendly practices.

SOURCE Cox