Roy Barnes 2010

Each year Georgians from every part of the state and people from across the South gather at the Hawkinsville Civitan Club's Annual Shoot the Bull Barbecue Championship to enter their family barbeque recipes and come home with first prize. The proceeds from this cook-off go to the Civitan International Research Center. This institution works tirelessly toward a cure for Down's syndrome and other developmental disabilities.

Georgia’s population in 1776 was 40,000.  Today, it’s almost 10 million!

United States Highway 27 runs the length of Georgia and is known as Martha Berry Highway, named after a pioneer educator.

The University of Georgia hosts the prestigious Peabody Awards, recognizing excellence in broadcasting.

Atlanta produced NBA superstars Dwight Howard and Josh Smith.

The Georgia Tech Research Institute employs 1,300 people and conducts over $110 million in research each year.

80 percent of U.S. consumers can be reached in two hours air travel or less from Georgia.

Carl Vinson was the first person to serve more than 50 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Georgia has approximately 250 tree species and 58 protected plants.

Hahira is the Honey Bee Capital of the World.

Joanna Troutman, a sixteen-year-old girl from Crawford County, Georgia, made the Lone Star State Flag—which became the emblem of the State of Texas.

The locomotive engine popularly known as the General is housed in The Big Shanty Museum in Kennesaw.  It was stolen in the Andrews Railroad Raid in 1862 and later depicted in the movie Great Locomotive Chase.

Fulton County is Georgia’s largest county by population.  Taliaferro County is Georgia’s smallest.

Button Gwinnett, namesake of Gwinnett County, signed the Declaration of Independence, only to die of a duel shortly afterwards.

Georgia is one of the leading states in occurrences of tornadoes.

The HOPE Scholarship, funded by the state lottery, is available to all Georgia residents who have graduated from high school with a 3.0 or higher grade point average and who attend a public college or university in the state.

Georgia is home to 65 threatened and endangered plant and animal species.

The largest wild hog found ever discovered was found and killed in Alapaha, Georgia. Weighing in at 1,000 pounds and measuring 12 feet in length, the creature was nicknamed "Hogzilla".

The state possum is Pogo Possum.