For Jason Smith, logging is his way of life. And it’s a way of life for which he was awarded Mississippi Logger of the Year.

Smith follows in the fraternal footsteps of his past being part of the third generation of loggers in his family. He owns his own company, Jason Smith Logging Inc. Both of his brothers both own their own businesses in the logging industry. “It’s in his blood,” Jeff Rogers, chair of the Logger Committee, said. “He grew up in the logging business.”

Rogers was part of a two-person selection committee that evaluated the business that Smith ran and moved him forward in the award process. “What really stood out was he was just a good Christian man with a lot of integrity and character,” Rogers said.

“We started when we were old enough to work,” Smith said about his introduction into the logging business. Since then Smith said he and his brothers are passing on a legacy and he hopes his children will go into the business as well. Smith has four sons with his wife Kayla.

“In one word, he is professional. With every job, he’s treated it as he would his own land,” Ellis Moak, President of the Lincoln County Forestry Association, said. Moak said that Smith’s work intensifies the logger profession.

“He’s great at what he does. He loves what he does,” Rogers said. “It’s not work, it’s a hobby for him.” Rogers said that a lot of Rogers’s crew is kin to him and that Rogers calls his crew the backbone of the company.

Smith and his logging company goes on from this statewide win to compete regionally among other two other southeastern winners.