1.   Award recipients are selected by a board composed of leaders in education, business and the public sector.

2.   Cathy and Thomas both were former Horatio Alger award recipients.

3.   John Malkovich said later that the award recipients reflected the vitality and promise of the American arts and humanities community.

4.   Other award recipients received certificates.

5.   Other award recipients, including Lou Piniella, Pat Gillick, Roland Hemond, and Greg Montalbano are expected to attend.

6.   Second-seeded Venus Williams was the emotional award recipient at a recent Essence magazine banquet in the aftermath of a controversy related to her father.

7.   The controversy has put the union in the awkward position of trying to distance itself from one award recipient while embracing the others.

8.   Thirteen other states and the District had one or two award recipients.

9.   Past award recipients include former President George Bush, civil rights activist James Farmer and journalist Helen Thomas.

10.   Past award recipients include the late ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, former first lady Lady Bird Johnson, filmmaker George Lucas and TV newsman Walter Cronkite.