Pembroke Pines, FL (January 14, 2020) – Calling all Landscapers and yard connoisseurs to show off their gardens!  Pines residents can sign up right now for the 2020 Natalie Belmonte Great Yards Award Contest.  Now entering its ninth year, the Great Yards Award competition was created in memory of Natalie Belmonte, a well-known resident and businesswoman who had a love for nature, and who tragically lost her life in July of 2011.

Register your own yard or a friend’s all the way up to the deadline date of Friday, April 10, 2020.  Previously, five Pembroke Pines yards were selected as winners, one from each City Commission District and one overall champion. With an increase in popularity and participation over the last few years, the contest has been extended to both commercial properties and educational institutions, resulting in seven total winners.
 
Members of the Pembroke Pines Environmental Advisory Board will judge the competing yards on five different components: Butterfly (the preservation of all stages of a butterfly's life), Design and Function, Maintenance, Florida-friendly Value and Use of Hardscapes. Applicants must provide a general description of their property, its landscaping, how it ultimately meets the objectives of the Natalie Belmonte Great Yards Award Contest and include 10 unreturned photos of their yard. Contest requirements with details of each section and applications are available at the Planning and Economic Development Department in City Hall, or via the City’s website by visiting www.ppines.com and searching keywords ‘Natalie Belmonte’.
 
Additionally, while application email submittal is preferred, hard copy applications may be sent to the following: 
Planning and Economic Development Department
601 City Center Way, 3rd Floor
Pembroke Pines, Florida 33025
 
Pembroke Pines residents who would like additional information regarding registering for the 2020 City of Pembroke Pines Natalie Belmonte Great Yards Award contest should contact city landscape staff at 954-392-2100 or email kjensen@ppines.com. 
 
The community is encouraged to learn more about the City of Pembroke Pines’ latest Events by subscribing to Pines Media on YouTube at Pembroke Pines Media, by reading the city's newspaper City Connect, and liking/following the City’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cityofpembrokepines, and @cityofppines for Twitter and Instagram. Residents with Comcast can view Pembroke Pines Media programming on Channel 78, and residents with AT&T U-Verse can view programming on Channel 99 and click on Pembroke Pines TV.