A new honor recognizing the power of film, arts, and Kentucky’s growing creative economy now carries the name of one of its champions.
Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers received the inaugural Robert Stivers Appalachian Film and Arts Award on Wednesday, October 7, during the 2026 SOAR Inspires Awards presented by the Kentucky Community & Technical College System at the Corbin Arena.
The recognition follows Stivers receiving the Motion Picture Association’s 2026 Industry Champion Award for his work supporting Kentucky’s growing film and television industry.
But his support for the creative economy extends beyond film.
Stivers helped champion the Louisville Orchestra’s In Harmony initiative, bringing world-class music directly into communities across the Commonwealth, including Eastern Kentucky.
The impact of that work can be measured in economic activity, jobs, and new opportunities. But it can also be found in moments that are harder to quantify, like children in rural Eastern Kentucky experiencing the Louisville Orchestra because the orchestra came to their community.
Whether it’s a film production creating careers, an orchestra reaching a small town, or a young Kentuckian discovering an opportunity they didn’t know existed, the arts can open doors.
To recognize that legacy, SOAR announced that the honor will permanently be known as the Robert Stivers Appalachian Film and Arts Award, recognizing individuals and organizations that expand opportunity, strengthen the creative economy, and ensure the stories and talents of Appalachia have a stage.
The recognition set the tone for an evening centered on the people doing exactly that kind of work across Eastern Kentucky.
The SOAR Inspires Awards, presented by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), celebrated individuals and organizations who choose to lead, serve, build, teach, invest, innovate, and create opportunity in the communities they call home.
The awards also officially kicked off the SOAR Summit, presented by Appalachian Wireless and the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Throughout the evening, business leaders, educators, students, entrepreneurs, healthcare providers, workforce champions, innovators, and community servants took center stage.
Their work is different. Their stories are different.
But they share something important: a belief in this region and a willingness to do the work required to move it forward.
That’s what the SOAR Inspires Awards are about.
And the 2026 honorees offered a powerful picture of what Building Eastern Kentucky. Together. looks like in practice.
Business Person of the Year: Rick Newsom
More than 50 years of service. A career of business leadership. And a commitment to Eastern Kentucky that never wavered.
Rick Newsom was named the 2026 SOAR Inspires Business Person of the Year.
Newsom has helped lead Community Trust Bank as it grew beyond its Pikeville roots to serve communities across Kentucky, West Virginia, and Tennessee. But his impact extends well beyond the growth of a financial institution.
Throughout his career, Newsom has remained deeply connected to Eastern Kentucky, investing his time and leadership in his community, church, and organizations working to move the region forward.
His career demonstrates that growing a successful business and investing in the place you call home don’t have to be separate pursuits.
They can strengthen one another.
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Partner of the Year: Mountain Association
In 1976, eight community development organizations came together around a simple belief: Eastern Kentucky’s economy should be built by the people who live here.
Fifty years later, that belief continues to drive Mountain Association.
Today, the organization serves all 54 Appalachian Kentucky counties with financing and support designed around the realities of doing business in the region.
During the past 25 years alone, Mountain Association has put more than $90 million to work in Eastern Kentucky while providing one-on-one support to thousands of entrepreneurs.
As Mountain Association celebrates its 50th anniversary, SOAR recognized the organization as the 2026 Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Partner of the Year.
Startup of the Year: Eastern Light Distilling
Bourbon has been part of Kentucky’s economy and identity for generations. Eastern Light Distilling is working to ensure Eastern Kentucky has a meaningful place in the industry’s next chapter.
Founded in 2024 by Bath County native and award-winning master distiller Caleb Kilburn and bourbon industry veteran Cordell Lawrence, Eastern Light is developing a dedicated contract whiskey distillery designed to serve emerging brands and established distillers alike.
Once complete, the operation is expected to create more than 50 full-time jobs while generating additional opportunities for farmers, suppliers, tourism, and surrounding communities.
Eastern Light also recently announced $23.1 million in private investment to accelerate construction.
For its investment and vision for what’s possible in Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Light Distilling was named the 2026 Startup of the Year.
Appalachian Innovator Award: Lynn Parrish
Lynn Parrish saw possibility in a workforce others might have overlooked.
As Eastern Kentucky’s coal economy changed, Parrish recognized that the problem-solving abilities, technical skills, and work ethic that powered one industry could be applied to another.
The idea was bold: go from mining coal to mining code.
That vision helped create Bit Source in Pikeville, opening pathways into technology careers and demonstrating that those jobs could be created right here in Eastern Kentucky. Marilyn LeBourveau
It also challenged assumptions about what technology jobs could look like, where they could be located, and who could do them.
For seeing the talent already here and building something new around it, Parrish received the Appalachian Innovator Award.
Appalachian Leadership Award: Rich Prewitt
For Rich Prewitt, leadership has never been confined to one title, organization, or chapter of his career.
Prewitt spent 28 years in public education with Whitley County Schools and Corbin Independent Schools. He has coached and mentored young people and served organizations advancing economic development, tourism, aviation, education, and community development.
Today, he serves as Director of Economic Development and Marketing for Cumberland Valley Electric and chairman of the Whitley County Industrial Authority. Rodney Hitch Rodney Hitch
Different organizations. Different roles. One constant: a commitment to making Eastern Kentucky stronger.
That lifetime of service earned Prewitt the Appalachian Leadership Award.
Community of the Year: Martin County
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson visited Martin County as he launched the War on Poverty, placing a small Eastern Kentucky community at the center of a national conversation about rural poverty.
Sixty-two years later, Martin County is writing a different story.
A story of resilience, collaboration, and a community determined to shape its own future.
After decades of challenges brought by the decline of coal, population loss, addiction, and devastating floods, Martin County is experiencing renewed investment and momentum.
Historic investments are rebuilding water and wastewater infrastructure, expanding broadband connectivity, and revitalizing downtown Inez. First Frontier Appalachian Trails is creating new opportunities for tourism, while initiatives focused on healthcare, recovery, housing, and quality of life are strengthening the community.
But what makes Martin County’s story remarkable isn’t any single project or investment.
It’s the people behind them.
Local governments, businesses, nonprofits, schools, healthcare organizations, churches, and residents are working together around a shared belief that Martin County’s best days can still be ahead.
Once known nationally for its challenges, Martin County is increasingly becoming a story of what’s possible when a community comes together.
Appalachian Workforce Champion: Dr. Keila Miller
Meaningful employment can transform a life.
Creating pathways to those jobs requires leaders who can bring employers, educators, workers, and communities together.
Dr. Keila Miller, Vice Chancellor of Workforce Solutions at Hazard Community and Technical College, does exactly that.
Miller has brought employers directly to students, including a recent career expo connecting more than 200 students with 40 local employers. She has worked closely with SOAR to develop nuclear workforce training and helped expand access to cybersecurity and other technology training.
Her work also reaches individuals in recovery, creating pathways into careers ranging from peer support and fiber optics to advanced manufacturing.
For continually building bridges between people and opportunity, Miller was recognized as the Appalachian Workforce Champion.
Teachers of the Year: Jeffrey Clair and Professor Carlton Hughes
Two educators were recognized as 2026 Teachers of the Year, each demonstrating the impact a teacher can have far beyond a classroom.
At Breathitt County High School, Jeffrey Clair teaches social studies and physics while challenging students to use entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation to solve real problems.
For more than a decade, he has coached the Student Technology Leadership Program. At the 2025 SOAR Summit, Clair’s students took the stage themselves to present the Focus Phone, a project they developed.
He could have told their story for them.
Instead, he prepared his students to tell it themselves. Lindon and Harrison
Clair’s service also extends beyond school walls, from visiting students unable to attend school to helping families following devastating flooding.
At Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College, Professor Carlton Hughes has spent 35 years helping students discover their own voices.
As a communications and public speaking instructor, Hughes has taught and mentored generations of students. He has also helped preserve Appalachian storytelling through the Pam Halcomb Memorial Storytelling Competition, giving young people opportunities to share their experiences and connect with one of the region’s treasured traditions.
Thirty-five years of teaching. Thousands of students influenced. Confidence built. Stories preserved.
Together, Clair and Hughes demonstrate the extraordinary influence educators can have on students, families, and communities.
Student of the Year: Nashayla Harris
The future of Appalachia isn’t something we have to wait for.
Young people across the region are already helping shape it.
Nashayla Harris, a senior at Harlan High School, was recognized as the 2026 Student of the Year.
Harris was named the 2026 Kentucky Boys & Girls Clubs Youth of the Year and went on to represent Kentucky at the Midwest regional competition, where she finished as runner-up.
She has used that platform to advocate for greater opportunities for rural young people before local, state, and national audiences, including in Washington, D.C.
Through initiatives such as ELEVATE, Harris is also helping demonstrate that young people shouldn’t simply participate in programs created for them — they should have a voice in shaping them.
She is already showing what the next generation of Appalachian leadership can look like.
Male Student-Athlete of the Year: Trey Person
Excellence in one sport requires talent, discipline, and commitment.
Excelling in three is something special.
Trey Person, a senior at Corbin High School, was named the 2026 Male Student-Athlete of the Year.
Person competes in football, basketball, and baseball. He has been a leading rusher for the Redhounds, was named MVP of the 50th District Basketball Tournament, and hit .416 during the 2026 baseball season.
His versatility also earned him recognition from the Kentucky High School Athletic Association as a Triple Threat Award recipient.
But his recognition wasn’t simply about statistics. Person was also celebrated for his work ethic, competitiveness, sportsmanship, humility, and the way he represents his school and community.
Female Student-Athlete of the Year: Kylie Kinner
Being a great student-athlete requires more than talent.
It takes discipline, sacrifice, and the determination to keep getting better.. in the classroom, in competition, and in life.
Kylie Kinner, a senior at Paintsville High School, has demonstrated those qualities across not one, I but two sports.
On the volleyball court, Kinner was named 15th Region Player of the Year after recording more than 800 kills and earning multiple All-State honors.
Then basketball season arrives, and she trades the volleyball court for the hardwood, where she has scored more than 2,100 career points.
Excelling at that level in one sport is difficult. Doing it in two is extraordinary.
And Kinner isn’t finished.
She has committed to Morehead State University, where she plans to compete in both women’s basketball and beach volleyball.
Tourism Organization of the Year: Backroads of Appalachia
What if the winding mountain roads that define much of Appalachia weren’t viewed as a barrier, but as an asset?
Backroads of Appalachia has built a movement around that idea.
The organization has helped turn the region’s roads, mountains, and communities into destinations for motorsports and adventure travelers from across the country.
In 2025 alone, Backroads attracted nearly 93,000 participants, with almost nine out of 10 traveling more than 150 miles.
Those visitors stayed in hotels and cabins, ate in restaurants, filled up at gas stations, and supported businesses throughout the region.
The result was more than $96 million in new regional spending and economic activity supporting more than 1,000 jobs.
That’s tourism as economic development.
And it earned Backroads of Appalachia recognition as the Tourism Organization of the Year.
Connect Appalachia Award: The Center for Rural Development
Broadband is more than infrastructure.
It is a connection to education, healthcare, employment, entrepreneurship, and opportunity.
For 30 years, The Center for Rural Development has worked to create opportunities and improve quality of life across Southern and Eastern Kentucky, with technology central to that mission.
The Center works alongside local governments, Area Development Districts, broadband providers, and community leaders to expand connectivity and prepare communities for broadband investment.
Through planning, technical assistance, and partnerships, the organization is helping close the digital divide and connect rural Kentucky to new opportunities. Carey Castle
That work earned The Center for Rural Development the Connect Appalachia Award.
Appalachian Recovery Award: Beacons of Hope
Recovery isn’t simply about overcoming addiction.
It’s about rebuilding a life.
Beacons of Hope is helping Eastern Kentuckians do both.
With locations in Perry and Knott counties, Beacons provides treatment and recovery services rooted in a commitment to the region.
Its work goes beyond treatment. Through a partnership with Hazard Community and Technical College, Beacons connects individuals in recovery to education and workforce training, creating pathways to meaningful employment and greater independence.
The organization has also developed a “Mommy and Me” program allowing new mothers to remain with their babies while receiving residential treatment.
For meeting people where they are and helping them move forward, Beacons of Hope received the Appalachian Recovery Award.
Healthy Communities Award: Baptist Health Corbin
Healthy communities begin with access to quality care, especially when minutes matter.
Baptist Health Corbin received the 2026 Healthy Communities Award for its investment in healthcare across southeastern Kentucky.
Its Emergency Department already serves more than 44,000 patients annually, and in 2026, the hospital became a Level IV Trauma Center, expanding access to emergency and trauma care closer to home.
Baptist Health Corbin is also making a historic $100 million investment in a new patient care wing that will expand emergency services, more than double critical care capacity, and increase neonatal and inpatient care.
It’s more than an investment in a hospital.
It’s an investment in the health and future of southeastern Kentucky.
Appalachian Humanitarian Award: Pat White
Public service may be Pat White’s profession.
Serving people is something much deeper.
As Whitley County Judge Executive, White has spent nearly two decades leading his county. But some of his greatest contributions have happened outside the traditional responsibilities of his office.
He has coached young people, taught through his church, supported local schools, and continually found ways to turn community involvement into opportunities for others.
Perhaps no effort captures that spirit better than Kayaking for Kids.
What began as a kayak race on the Cumberland River has grown into an annual tradition supporting Family Resource Centers at elementary schools across Whitley County, Williamsburg, and Corbin, along with other programs serving local children. Over its first nine years, the event generated more than $250,000 for children and families across the community.
White has also helped create spaces where young people and families can come together — from revitalizing the Whitley County Fairgrounds and supporting youth athletics to finding ways to put existing community resources to work for the next generation.
It’s a reminder that humanitarian service doesn’t always begin with a grand initiative.
Sometimes, it begins with seeing a need and deciding to do something about it.
For a lifetime of doing just that, Whitley County Judge Executive Pat White received the 2026 Appalachian Humanitarian Award.
A New Award. A Lasting Legacy.
The evening also included a first for the SOAR Inspires Awards and an announcement that will carry forward for years to come.
Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers received the inaugural Appalachian Film and Arts Award.
The recognition came shortly after the Motion Picture Association honored Stivers with its 2026 Industry Champion Award for his work supporting Kentucky’s growing film and television industry.
His support for Kentucky’s creative economy extends beyond film.
Stivers helped champion the Louisville Orchestra’s In Harmony initiative, bringing world-class music into communities across the Commonwealth, including Eastern Kentucky.
The impact of that work can be found in moments that don’t always show up on an economic impact report, like a mother in Beattyville whose children were able to experience the Louisville Orchestra because the orchestra came to their community.
Whether it’s a film production creating careers, an orchestra reaching a rural community, or a young Kentuckian discovering an opportunity they didn’t know existed, the arts can open doors.
And the evening brought one more announcement.
Beginning in 2026, the honor will permanently be known as the Robert Stivers Appalachian Film and Arts Award, recognizing those who expand opportunity, strengthen the creative economy, and ensure the stories and talents of Appalachia have a stage.
Building Eastern Kentucky. Together.
The SOAR Inspires Awards are an important reminder that regional transformation doesn’t happen because of a single organization, program, investment, or event.
It happens when people lead from wherever they are.
In a classroom. A hospital. A small business. A college. A nonprofit. A boardroom. A recovery center. A community.
Sometimes, it begins simply by seeing potential in another person and helping them take the next step.
That’s how communities grow stronger. That’s how opportunity expands. That’s how a region moves forward.
And across Eastern Kentucky, it’s already happening.