The winners of this year’s Iowa Character Awards have been announced. Amy Smit, with the Character Counts in Iowa program, says 13 award winners were selected from 60 entries. “Every year, I think that they can’t get any better than the last. They always continue to not just surprise me, but our entire selection committee with the great Iowa teachers, students and companies that we have throughout the state,” Smit said.

All of the winners will be recognized at The Iowa Character Awards Banquet on August 5 at the Hy-Vee Conference Center in West Des Moines. Smit says Harlan High School is the winner of this year’s “School of Character” award. “They’re fairly new to Character Counts, but they’ve really taken it on and made it part of their school culture and climate. So, we’re really happy to recognize them,” Smit said.

Andria Knutson and Zach Moss of Winterset, have been named co-winners in the “Youth Citizen of the Year” category. “These two are known throughout their community for being so service oriented and so caring about other people that our selection committee was really blown away by their dedication to helping others,” Smit said. Character Counts In Iowa is a non-profit organization that was founded by former Governor Robert Ray in 1997.

(Pat Powers/Radio Iowa)