To recognize Arizonans dedicated to preserving state history, the Arizona Historical Foundation, the state historian and Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Scottsdale created the annual Arizona Culturekeeper award.

Sedona’s own Janeen Trevillyan, a historian with the Sedona Historical Society, was among nine individuals and one organization selected to receive the award this year and she will be one of less than 100 Arizonans overall to receive the award before it’s laid to rest at the state centennial in 2012.

Marshall Trimble, Arizona’s state historian, made the award presentations personal and meaningful, according to Trevillyan, but she admits she felt like tiptoeing through the room during the ceremony. It was filled with many of Arizona’s most seasoned historians.

Trevillyan is new to the trade, she admitted, but she’s made up for lost time. The 60-hour work weeks which are typical of her life as an historian may be more consuming than the long hours she dedicated to her career before retiring in 1999, she said.