Donating money is just one way to honor the good work that CNN Heroes do. Thousands of people also showed their support on social media.
Actress and singer Victoria Justice was on stage to hand Maggie Doyne her award. She also helped kick off the CNN Heroes #MyHeroIn4Words Twitter campaign by tweeting a photo with her mother.
Country superstar Brad Paisley also took the opportunity to pay tribute to his mom along with all of her fellow teachers.
Singer Andra Day, who performed her song “Rise Up” at the “CNN Heroes Tribute Show,” chose “Purpose driven life savers” as her four words.
Sheryl Crow’s tweet gave a shout out to folks who are fighting to stop global warming.
While the TV audience got a front row seat for the show, a group of photographers was on hand to capture the behind-the-scenes action. They published their photos to Instagram during the broadcast.
Kerry Payne is says she is drawn to the healing power of photography. She chose to present most of her photos from the show in stunning black and white. You can see more of her Instagram work at kerrypayne.
Michelle Williams writes about food on her blog Coffee & Champagne. She could not resist grabbing a flute for a photo with the Museum of Natural History’s famous whale, who hovers over the stage. In addition to the show, CNN Heroes is also a star-studded dinner. Michelle says she got her best food photos by “exploring VIP, the bar, the pop up kitchen and even following around servers.”
Graham Burns is known on Instagram as thecoolburns. He captured the moment when Sharon Stone sat down on the red carpet to get to know a sloth named Snooki.
Keen Malasarte is a writer and photographer. Covering the CNN Heroes Tribute Show is just one of her New York City adventures that she documents on Instagram at acupofkeen.