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HUNTINGTON, W.Va.\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Miners, community members and others connected with the state\u2019s coal mining industry will gather at Tamarack in Beckley on Thursday, Oct. 3, for the 2013 Miners\u2019 Celebration\u2014a gala reception and dinner to celebrate the past, present and future of West Virginia\u2019s coal mining enterprise.<\/p>\n According to organizers, the purpose of the annual event is to recognize those who play a role in the success of the state\u2019s mining enterprise. The community focus of this year\u2019s event is McDowell County and its coal mining heritage.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of our graduates find employment in West Virginia\u2019s mining industry, which depends upon thousands of individuals in a number of different roles,\u201d said Dr. Tony Szwilski, chairman of the event planning committee and director of Marshall University\u2019s Center for Environmental, Geotechnical and Applied Sciences. \u201cEvery person who works in the industry\u2014whether they are a safety engineer, miner, environmental professional or equipment supplier\u2014contributes to each ton of coal produced, as do countless community leaders, educators and mining families.<\/p>\n \u201cThe mining industry owes its success to every one of them. This event is intended to honor and recognize the contributions of everyone involved and to spotlight McDowell County\u2019s long history in mining. Last year\u2019s celebration was a rousing success and we look forward to this year\u2019s program being even bigger and better.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRocket Boys\u201d author Homer Hickam, who received last year\u2019s \u201cSpirit of the Coalfields\u201d award, will present a new award, the \u201cHomer Hickam Collier Award,\u201d to a working coal miner who epitomizes the spirit, dedication and skills of the mining profession.<\/p>\n Conference organizers also will present \u201cBecause of You\u201d awards to individuals for their significant contributions to West Virginia\u2019s coalfields heritage in the following categories:\u00a0 Community Investment, Community Involvement, Women in Mining, Safety Professional, Equipment\/Technology Innovation, Environmental Professional, Management Professional, Engineering Professional and Educator of the Year.<\/p>\n The Coal Heritage Highway Authority\/National Coal Heritage Area will present the Nick Joe Rahall Award for Outstanding Achievements in Coal Heritage Preservation, the Coal Heritage Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Coal Heritage Marketing Award and the Coal Heritage Research and Documentation Award.<\/p>\n The free reception will begin at 5 p.m. in the Tamarack atrium. Dinner and the awards ceremony, which require a ticket, will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the ballroom.<\/p>\n Tickets for the dinner and awards ceremony are $50\/person. To purchase tickets, call 304-696-4029.<\/p>\n For more information about the Miners\u2019 Celebration, visit www.marshall.edu\/cegas\/events\/mcc<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Miners\u2019 Celebration is a cooperative project of the Center for Environmental, Geotechnical and Applied Sciences at Marshall University; the National Coal Heritage Area; the United Mine Workers of America; the West Virginia Coal Association; Strategic Solutions LLC; and the West Virginia Division of Energy, Office of Coalfield Community Development.<\/p>\n Sponsors include Brickstreet Insurance, Marshall University, State Electric Supply Company and the West Virginia Division of Energy.<\/p>\n Contact:\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>Ginny Painter<\/a>, Communications Director, Marshall University Research Corporation, 304.746.1964<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Singer-songwriter John Ellison among those to be honored Friday, July 12,\u00a02013 [social_share\/] HUNTINGTON, W.Va.\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Miners, community members and others connected with the state\u2019s coal mining industry will gather at Tamarack in Beckley on Thursday, Oct. 3, for the 2013 Miners\u2019 Celebration\u2014a gala reception and dinner to celebrate the past, present and future of West Virginia\u2019s coal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"fimg_url":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/murc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/murc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/murc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/murc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/murc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/murc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/murc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/murc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/murc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/thesundayedition\/images\/Ellison.jpg\" "\\"Photo")
Internationally recognized musician and songwriter John Ellison, who grew up in the mining community of Landgraff in McDowell County, will be on hand at the event to accept a special \u201cSpirit of the Coalfields\u201d award. A member of the 1960s group the Soul Brothers Six, Ellison is best known for writing the song \u201cSome Kind of Wonderful\u201d\u2014one of the most-recorded songs in history. He is dedicating his award to the memory of his father, who worked in the mines in McDowell County.<\/p>\n
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