The fourth Golden Bridge Builders Award Ceremony honored six accomplished Selma citizens who are 55 years old and above in six different areas of expertise Saturday at the Evans Convention Center.

Martha Lockett received an award for the arts, Minnie Fails McElroy for community service, Frances Woods Fells for education, Henry Allen Jr. for government, Georgia Porter Mills-Foster for health care and Bradford Perry for religion.

“This is just a little way of showing how much we appreciate what they’ve done,” said Jeannie Evans, who worked with five other women on the Golden Bridge Builders Awards Committee to organize the event.

The ceremony began with an invocation from the Rev. John Grayson. It was continued by remarks by Selma mayor George Evans.

Each of the six award-getters were invited to the stage to speak in front of the audience and receive their award.

Prior to each of their speeches, the honorees created a video to allow them an opportunity to tell their story and express their love for the Selma community.

Lockett, the executive director for ArtsRevive, was the first to speak.

“Sometimes we take for granted that we have a city that really supports the work of small groups in our community,” Lockett said.

Fells has been teaching for 41 years, and she said that old age has not taken away her desire to teach children.

“I get tired physically now, but I’m still determined to continue to do what I can to help,” Fells said.

Perry, a communicant for Our Lady Queen of Peace, was the last of the six to speak to the audience. He looked around the room at all the people who have helped Selma thrive.

“There’s a lot of people out here in this audience that are doing a lot of good for this community,” Perry said.

While the six honorees sat on the stage, 15 high school volunteers sat in the back of the room, listening to the words of each of the speakers.

When Judge Maggie Drake-Peterson made her closing remarks, she said that while it is the efforts of many people in the room that have built Selma to what it has become, it is the children that can help bring Selma to the next level.

Jeannie said after the ceremony that from the honorees to the high school students to everyone in the audience, she felt Selma was well-represented Saturday.

“I think we had a good cross-section of what Selma is and what we hope to continue to be,” Jeannie said.