Area Development magazine presented Georgia with its Silver Shovel Award this week for completing several economic development deals in 2011, including the Home Depot expansion project in Cobb County.

The company is opening a customer call center in Kennesaw that will bring 700 jobs to the county. Cobb was responsible for a third of all new jobs created in the metro Atlanta region last year, according to the county chamber of commerce.

Eighteen states received Shovel Awards from the magazine based on their top 10 job creation and investment projects initiated in 2011.

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Travelers walk around the baggage claim in the South Terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. Atlanta is among the airports where the FAA will reduce flights due to the shutdown, and airports are facing a shortage of air traffic controllers. 
(Miguel Martinez/ AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez