The influence janitors, custodians, and other cleaning professionals have on every day life has never been as significant as it has been in 2020. As the United States (really the entire world) grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, these seldom celebrated people have joined medical professionals and other essential workers in keeping things as safe as possible.

In recognition of the cleaning industry and its efforts, CleanTelligent has named the winners of its 2020 Heroes Of Clean Contest in a blog post. Just one person won the award in each of four categories: education, transportation, janitorial contracting and healthcare. The winners, which were only identified by their first name, are:

Transportation: Patty is responsible for ensuring that the janitorial crews at Phoenix Light Rail have all the tools, supplies and training they need to successfully complete their job (a talk task considering the pandemic and all the challenges it presents).

Healthcare: Destiny works at Wilson N. Jones Regional Medical Center in Sherman, Texas. As part of her job, Destiny works in the hospital's COVID-19 unit, manages all of its linen needs and takes on any other responsibility that is asked of her.

Education: Cheryl's job is significant because it requires her to protect the kids at CEC Windsor Middle School in Windsor, Colorado through the cleaning she provides. Cheryl carefully cleans and disinfects or sanitizes high-touch surfaces in the school's cafeteria, faculty lounge and restroom.

Janitorial contracting: Linwood works for a building services contractor, which requires him to clean facilities. He goes above and beyond for his coworkers by offering to work flexible hours, providing a positive attitude and making recommendations as to how the facilities they work at can be better cared for.