2024 North Carolina Award Winners, State’s Highest Honor, Announced

The state’s highest civilian honor, the North Carolina Award, will be presented to eight distinguished North Carolinians Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Raleigh Marriott City Center. Governor Roy Cooper will present the awards at a 7 p.m. banquet and ceremony.

All proceeds from ticket sales for the awards ceremony will go to the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund to help communities recover from Hurricane Helene.

The award was created by the General Assembly in 1961 to recognize significant contributions to the state and nation in the fields of fine arts, literature, public service and science. The awards have been presented annually since 1964 and this year marks the 60th anniversary of the awards ceremony.

The 2024 honorees are The Avett Brothers (Scott Avett, Seth Avett and Bob Crawford) for Fine Arts, Frank A. Bruni Jr. for Literature, William Henry Curry for Fine Arts, Thomas W. Earnhardt for Science, Christina Koch for Science, and Dr. Harold L. Martin Sr. for Public Service.

“Over the past six decades, the North Carolina Award has been given to many remarkable North Carolinians,” said Reid Wilson, secretary of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. “This year’s awardees join an illustrious list of people who have benefitted North Carolina through their impressive accomplishments in public service, literature, science, and the arts. This year’s event will benefit our neighbors in Western North Carolina who were harmed by the devastating storm.”

Since the award’s inception, more than 300 notable men and women have been honored by the state of North Carolina. Past recipients include William Friday, James Taylor, Etta Baker, Charles Kuralt, Maya Angelou, Lee Smith, Eric Church, Selma Burke, and Branford Marsalis.

2024 Award Recipients:

Fine Arts: The Avett Brothers

Brothers Scott and Seth Avett and their longtime friend Bob Crawford lead the folk rock band The Avett Brothers. From Concord, N.C., Scott and Seth Avett have played music together since childhood. Their partnership began when the two brothers merged Seth Avett’s high school band, Margo, and Scott Avett’s college band, Nemo, and released three albums as Nemo. After the group disbanded Scott and Seth continued to write acoustic music together. In 2001 stand-up bassist Bob Crawford joined the Avetts, and the band released its first full-length album, Country Was in 2002. The band has been nominated for three Grammy awards and been nominated for and won several awards from the Americana Music Association, including Duo/Group of the Year and New/Emerging Artist of the Year awards in 2007. As cultural ambassadors for North Carolina, The Avett Brothers play a vital role in promoting the state’s rich musical heritage, inspiring future generations of artists while remaining deeply rooted in their origins.

Literature: Frank A. Bruni Jr.

Frank Bruni has been a prominent journalist for more than three decades, principally at The New York Times, where his various roles have included op-ed columnist, White House correspondent, Rome bureau chief and chief restaurant critic. As the Times’s first openly gay op-ed columnist, in 2016 Bruni was honored by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association with the Randy Shilts Award for his lifetime contribution to LGBTQ equality. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar and wrote for the student paper, the Daily Tar Heel. Bruni is the author of five bestselling books including the most recent, “The Age of Grievance,” an examination of America’s political dysfunction and culture wars. In 2021, he became a full professor at Duke University, teaching media-oriented classes in the Sanford School of Public Policy. Now living in North Carolina, he continues to write his popular weekly newsletter for the New York Times and to produce occasional essays as a contributing opinion writer for the newspaper.

Fine Arts: William Henry Curry

William Henry Curry, a significant figure in contemporary American music, has made remarkable contributions as both a conductor and composer. His dedication to championing American composers, his trailblazing role as an African American in classical music, and his wide-ranging work in both concert and opera have established him as a pioneering force. Curry currently serves as the music director and conductor of the Durham Symphony Orchestra. From 1998 to 2016, he was the resident conductor and Summerfest artistic director of the North Carolina Symphony. During his career, he has conducted some of the world’s greatest orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the major opera companies of New York, Chicago, and Houston. Maestro Curry is also a composer, and his works have been played by many of America’s finest orchestras. He has been a mentor for young musicians at the Peabody Conservatory, the Baltimore School of Arts, and many music schools in North Carolina.

Science: Thomas W. Earnhardt

Tom Earnhardt has dedicated his life to preserving and promoting North Carolina's rich natural and cultural heritage. Earnhardt extensive career of service includes time as an assistant attorney general at the N.C. Department of Justice, assistant secretary of the N.C. Department of Administration, and as a professor at North Carolina Central University School of Law. In 1971 Earnhardt was one of the first attorneys hired at the N.C. Department of Justice in the “new arena” of environmental law. Later, while working with Governor Jim Holshouser he played a key role in helping to preserve critical natural areas, including the New River in northwestern North Carolina and the southernmost Outer Banks, today’s Cape Lookout National Seashore. Beyond his legal work, Earnhardt has long been passionate about conservation and environmental education. He served on the boards of numerous natural resource organizations, including The Nature Conservancy, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and the North Carolina Botanical Garden. He is best known, however, through his work as the writer, host, and co-producer of the long-running PBS series “Exploring North Carolina,” which highlights the importance of our natural heritage in the life of every North Carolinian.

Science: Christina Koch

Christina Koch has blazed a trail for women in space exploration. Selected to be a NASA astronaut in 2013, Koch has set the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with 328 days in space, participated in the first all-female spacewalk, and was a flight engineer on the International Space Station for Expeditions 59 through 61. Koch is a graduate of the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics and North Carolina State University. Before becoming an astronaut, she worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as an electrical engineer, contributing to instruments for various NASA space science missions. Koch is a passionate advocate for STEM education, actively encouraging young people, especially girls, to pursue careers in science and technology. Throughout her career, she has engaged in educational outreach, technical instruction, and volunteer tutoring, demonstrating her dedication to inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers. As part of the Artemis II mission scheduled for 2025, Koch will become the first woman to participate in a lunar mission.

Public Service: Dr. Harold L. Martin Sr.

Dr. Harold Lee Martin, Sr., has dedicated his life to higher education and public service. Serving as the 12th chancellor of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University from 2009-2024, Martin became the first alumnus to lead the institution. His extensive experience in education, spanning over 40 years, made him a key figure in N.C. A&T’s growth to become the largest of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and one of the country’s top public research institutions. Before becoming N.C. A&T’s chancellor, Martin served as senior vice president for Academic Affairs for the University of North Carolina System, where he helped shape policies benefiting institutions across North Carolina, and held leadership roles at Winston-Salem State University, where he served as the 11th chief administrator and seventh chancellor.

The 2024 North Carolina Awards will be presented Thursday, Nov. 14 at the Raleigh Marriott City Center. This event is sponsored by Wells Fargo, Martin Marietta, RTI, Wolfspeed, Lenovo, Duke Energy, ECU Health, CBC/WRAL Community Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation, Friends of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, PBS North Carolina, NCSU College of Engineering, N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, NC Opera, Dr. Myron S. Cohen and Dr. Gail Henderson, Honorable G K Butterfield, Justice W. Earl Britt, and Michael Alan McFee.