Eight Middleburg businesses took the 2013 Loudoun County Green Business Challenge.

They received awards for their achievements in environmental sustainability at the Loudoun Green Gala at the Briar Patch Bed & Breakfast.

To take the Challenge, businesses complete a scorecard listing a variety of environmentally sustainable activities. The businesses receive points for each activity they complete, and based on their point total, the businesses are recognized at levels ranging from "Participant" to "Platinum."

The Challenge also provides special awards for the "greenest" businesses in the Loudoun as well as for the most innovative and most improved.

Businesses that take the Challenge range from brand new to sustainability through leaders in the field. They also range from home-based businesses through corporate giants like Verizon, and they represent an equally wide variety of industries.

This year's Middleburg honorees:

• Briar Patch Bed & Breakfast - Participant
• Blue - Certified
• Middleburg Tack Exchange - Certified
• Magee Design – Silver
• Middleburg Physical Therapy – Silver and Most Improved Award winner
• Wagenburg Farm – Silver and Most Improved Award winner
• Ayrshire Farm – Platinum
• Unison Advisory Group – Platinum

The Challenge includes networking events throughout the year and offers mentoring to help companies take actions that simultaneously benefit the environment and their bottom lines.

It is open to every for-profit and non-profit business with a physical presence in Loudoun County.

The first event in the 2014 Green Business Challenge season took place on November 6.

To receive information on upcoming events and to participate in the Challenge, please register at http://www.loudounchamber.org/Loudoun-GreenBusiness-Challenge or call Paige Romanow at 571-209-9025.