In 1993, the General Assembly added a special advocacy category to the Folk Heritage Award. The first advocacy award was presented to the Catawba Cultural Preservation Project of Rock Hill. An independent, non-profit organization, the Catawba Cultural Preservation Project seeks to maintain and promote the crafts, art, culture, language, traditions, and history of the Catawba people and to share that heritage with the people of South Carolina.
Among its many activities, the Preservation Project has renovated a historic schoolhouse to create a community center, and established the annual Yap Ye Iswa Festival, featuring displays of dancing, songs, storytelling, pottery, traditional foods, and historic lectures. The organization received the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award in 1993.
