Abstract:
The North Carolina Award is the highest honor the state can bestow on its citizens. Suggested by Dr. Robert Lee Humber of Greenville and instituted by the 1961 General Assembly, the award recognizes 'notable accomplishments by North Carolina citizens in the fields of scholarship, research, the fine arts, and public leadership.' Guy Owen (literature), James Hustead Semans and Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans (fine arts), Capus Waynick (public service), and James Edwin Webb, for (creative leadership in the United States program) received the award in 1971. The award to the Semans is the first North Carolina Award given jointly.