Many of the people who helped put Charles Village on the map were in the audience when community leaders returned the favor Sept. 30.

The Charles Village Civic Association unveiled a fanciful, colorful caricature map that shows the faces of many of the city's elected officials, from Mayor Sheila Dixon to Del. Maggie McIntosh.

And early in the association's annual meeting and awards ceremony in the Baltimore Museum of Art auditorium, many in the audience crowded onto the stage to sign one of the maps. Someone in the audience suggested auctioning it as a fundraiser.

Big names in the audience of more than 100 testified to Charles Village's pull. Dixon wasn't there, but McIntosh was, as were Dels. Shawn Tarrant and Curt Anderson, City Council members Jack Young, Belinda Conaway (who won a presidential award), Mary Pat Clarke and Bill Henry; Donald and Thibault Manekin, who redeveloped the former Census building as housing for teachers; Karen DeCamp, president of the York Road Partnership; Salem Reiner, Johns Hopkins University's liason between the Homewood campus and surrounding communities; and Karen Stokes, of neighboring Oakenshawe, executive director of the Greater Homewood Community Corp.

The slew of awards handed out reinforced the big year that Charles Village has had, in terms of clout, groundbreaking projects and national and local media attention.

Award winners included:

* Manekin and his son, Thibault, who turned an abandoned building on the border of Charles Village and Remington into Miller's Court, affordable housing for newer public school teachers. The project made national news. The Manekins plan to duplicate it in Hampden.

* Michelle Wirzberger, an attorney for the Community Law Center, who has helped community leaders stop several unwanted bars and restaurants from opening in the neighborhood, and has charged drastically reduced legal fees.

* Tamara Woods, a city planner who led the charge to successfully nominate Charles Village as one of the American Planning Association's Top 10 Neighborhoods for 2008.

* Casey Jenkins, the ex-Marine turned restaurateur and chef who opened Darker Than Blue on Greenmount Avenue in adjacent Waverly and is hoping to spur a renaissance of the corridor. Jenkins scored big with Charles Village and other area communities earlier this year when he invited residents to an open house, where he made a well-received case for a liquor license.

* Jan French, one of Charles Village's longest residents, named one of 2009's top "Neighborhood Moms" by City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

* Charles Village resident Rich Gardella, a reporter for NBC and MSNBC, who reported early on about the Miller's Court project, as well as about the rebuilding of the community playground on 33rd Street in Waverly that was destroyed in an arson fire.

* Former Baltimore Messenger reporter Adam Bednar, "who came to every one of our meetings," according to outgoing association President Dana Moore. Bednar is a staff writer for the Carroll County Times.

There were also tributes and a standing ovation for Moore, who was extremely active at the helm. Moore, an attorney, will be succeeded by Jennifer Erickson as association president, and will serve as membership secretary.

"Actually, I won't miss you," she told the crowd. "I'm still here."

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