By BRAD GASKINS / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – Jenny Miller and her dog, Honey Belle, are celebrating today after winning a national contest for a $500,000 makeover of an area dog park.

As the winner of the Beneful Dream Dog Park Contest, Miller will also receive $10,000 and a year’s supply of Beneful brand dog food. She said she would donate both prizes to the Shelby Humane Society, where she is the executive director.

“We’re thrilled,” Miller said. “We couldn’t be happier for the community, for Honey Belle and for all the dogs of Shelby County.”

Miller said she has her “fingers crossed” that the dog park renovation will be somewhere in Shelby County. Beneful said it’s still in the early planning stages and that the park would be located somewhere in the Birmingham area.

A celebration event will be held at the selected dog park later this fall. Renovations are scheduled to be unveiled in the spring of 2012.

Jason Cameron, a design expert and contractor, will oversee the renovations with assistance from Adren Moore, a pet expert and bestselling author.

In her video submission, which can be viewed here, Miller envisioned a renovated park with an agility course, water features, room for dogs to run, a do-it-yourself doggy wash and a walking path made of bricks sold in memory of dogs to help fund the park’s upkeep.

Miller adopted Honey Belle, a Shepherd mix, from the Shelby Humane Society four years ago. Honey Belle had been a stray found in Alabaster’s Veterans Park, Miller said.

Miller is a graduate of Thompson High School and now lives in Birmingham.