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History: Leadership & Awards

2011
Distinguished Service Award: Gwen Woolf
     Announced October 2011 in Richmond
Newsmaker of the Year: Rowena Fullinwider, business woman
President: Cathy Jett

2010

Communicator of Achievement: Barbara Crookshanks
Newsmaker of the Year: Doris Buffett, philanthropist
President: Gwen Woolf


2009

Communicator of Achievement: Pam Stallsmith
Newsmaker of the Year: Lucinda Roy, author and Virginia Tech faculty
Distinguished Service Award: Norma Pierce
President: Gwen Woolf


2008

Distinguished Service Award:
    Cynthia Price and Pam Stallsmith, announced March 29 in Staunton
Newsmaker of the Year: First Lady of Virginia Anne Holton
President: Sande Snead


2007

Communicator of Achievement:
    Mary Jane King, announced September 2007 in Richmond
President: Sande Snead
[No Newsmaker named for 2007]


2006

Communicator of Achievement:
    Margaret Mock, announced fall 2006 in Roanoke
Newsmaker of the Year: Nikki Giovanni, poet, professor, civil rights activist
President: Julie Campbell


2005

Communicator of Achievement:
    Nancy Beasley, announced fall 2005 in Fredericksburg
Newsmaker of the Year: Geraldine Brooks, novelist and journalist
President: Julie Campbell


2004

Communicator of Achievement: Norma Lugar
Newsmaker of the Year: Rita McClenny, head, Virginia Film Office
President: Cynthia Price


2003

Communicator of Achievement: Mary Ann Johnson
Newsmaker of the Year: Suzanne Lebsock, author, professor, historian
President: Cynthia Price


2002

Communicator of Achievement: Gwen Woolf
Newsmaker of the Year: "Virginia communicators who so ably and heroically served the public during the crisis following Sept. 11, 2001." Representatives of state, federal, and private agencies:
     Janet L. Clements, Department of Emergency Management;
     Susan Hansen, the Pentagon;
     Bill Harrison, American Red Cross
President: Pam Stallsmith


2001

Communicator of Achievement: Dorothy Livingston Ulich Troubetzkoy
Newsmaker of the Year: Adriana Trigiani, novelist
President: Pam Stallsmith


2000

Distinguished Service Award: Cynthia Price
Newsmaker of the Year: Roxane Gilmore, first lady of Virginia and Randolph-Macon College professor who continued teaching during her husband's tenure
President: Mary Ann Johnson


1999

Communicator of Achievement: Pauline Mitchell
Newsmaker of the Year: Katharine Lee Reid, director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
President: Mary Ann Johnson


1998

Distinguished Service Award: Barbara Ball
Communicator of Achievement: Martha Steger
Newsmakers of the Year: Tim Reid and Daphne Maxwell Reid, New Millennium Studios of Petersburg
President: Lynn Nystrom


1997

Distinguished Service Award: Martha Steger
Communicator of Achievement: Louise Seals
Newsmaker of the Year: Meyera E. Oberndorf, mayor of Virginia Beach
President: Lynn Nystrom


1996

Distinguished Service Award: Susan Trulove
Newsmaker of the Year:
Emily Couric, state senator, Virginia's 25th District, elected 1995 and had an unusually successful freshman year
President: Susan Winiecki


1995

Distinguished Service Award: Lynn Nystrom
Newsmaker of the Year: Patricia D. Cornwell, best-selling crime novelist
President: Susan Winiecki


1994

Distinguished Service Award: Pauline Mitchell
Newsmaker of the Year: Lillian Vernon, entrepreneur
President: Martha Steger


1993

Distinguished Service Award: Susan J. Winiecki
Communicator of Achievement: Melodie Davis
Newsmaker of the Year: Navy Lt. Paula Coughlin, Tailhook scandal whistle blower
President: Martha Steger


1992

Communicator of Achievement: George Crutchfield
Newsmaker of the Year: Patricia Kluge, Albemarle County businesswoman and philanthropist
President: Louise Seals


1991

Press Woman of the Year: Norma Pierce
Newsmaker of the Year: Dr. Georgeanna Seegar Jones, pioneer in infertility research
President: Louise Seals


1990

Press Woman of the Year: Mary C. Holliman
Newsmaker of the Year: Elizabeth B. Lacy, first woman on the Virginia Supreme Court
President:


1989

Press Woman of the Year: Gail Benge Kent
Newsmaker of the Year: Jeannie Baliles, first lady of Virginia and leader in literacy programs
President: Carolyn West


1988

Press Woman of the Year: Liz Vantrease
Newsmaker of the Year: Brig. Gen. Gail M. Reals, first woman general in the Marine Corps and first female base commander in the corps
President: Carolyn West


1987

Press Woman of the Year: June O. Nicholson
Newsmaker of the Year: Eva S. Teig, Virginia secretary of health and human resources
President: Mary Jane King


1986

Press Woman of the Year: Louise Seals
Newsmaker of the Year: Margaret Sanger Marston
President: Mary Jane King


1985

Press Woman of the Year:
Newsmaker of the Year: Mary Sue Terry, activist Virginia attorney general
President:


1984

Press Woman of the Year: Joan Deppa
Newsmaker of the Year: Anne Dobie Peebles
President:


1983

Press Woman of the Year: Linda K. Ganschinietz
Newsmaker of the Year: Dr. Betty J. Diener, outspoken and combative Virginia secretary of commerce and resources
President:


1982

Press Woman of the Year: Loretta Gillespie
Newsmaker of the Year:
President: LeeNora Everett


1981

Press Woman of the Year: LeeNora Everett
Newsmaker of the Year: Marianne C. Stanley
President: LeeNora Everett


1980

Press Woman of the Year: Pat Royal Perkinson
Newsmaker of the Year: Jessie Rattley
President:


1979

Press Women of the Year: Liz Vantrease and Carolyn Hines West
Newsmaker of the Year: Dr. Jean L. Harris, first woman and first African-American to serve in the Virginia cabinet
President:


1978

Press Woman of the Year: Trudy Willis
Newsmaker of the Year: Elizabeth Taylor Warner, Academy Award-winning actress and wife of John Warner, who was elected U.S. Senator from Virginia in November 1978
President:


1977

Press Woman of the Year: Sylvia Costen
Newsmaker of the Year: Virginia's eight women Episcopal priests: the Revs. Alison Cheek, Patricia Merchant, Constance Chandler Ward, Mary B. Anthony, Blanche Powell, Margaret Jefferson, Gloria K. Bergerich and Georgia H. Shoberg.
President:


1976

Press Woman of the Year: Peggy Pond
Newsmaker of the Year: Del. Eleanor P. Sheppard, former mayor of Richmond, delegate to Virginia General Assembly and the first woman to serve as chair of a General Assembly committee
President:


1975

Press Woman of the Year: Ann L. Merriman
Newsmaker of the Year: Annie Dillard, Pulitzer prize-winning author of "A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" and former professor at Hollins College
President:


1974

Press Woman of the Year: Lois D. Watkins
Newsmaker of the Year: Rae Ely, leader of the group to save historic Green Springs from strip mining
President:


1973

Press Woman of the Year: Myrtle S. Barnes
Newsmaker of the Year: Helen Chenery Tweedy, owner of Secretariat, Triple Crown Winner, and Riva Ridge, winner of the 1972 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, from her Meadow Farm at Doswell
President:


1972

Press Woman of the Year: Ruby Jean Phillips Uhler
Newsmaker of the Year: Jinks Holton, first lady of Virginia
President:


1971

Press Woman of the Year: Marge Fisher
Newsmaker of the Year: Vivian Carter Mason, Norfolk civil rights leader
President: Myrtle Barnes


1970

Press Woman of the Year: Madeline W. Livesay
Newsmakers of the Year: Virginia Wives of Prisoners of War and Missing in Action in Southeast Asia
President: Myrtle Barnes


1969

Press Woman of the Year: Pat Royal Perkinson
Newsmaker of the Year: Ann H. Kilgore of Hampton, only woman mayor in the state
President: Marge Fisher


1968

Press Woman of the Year: Ruth H. Barner
Woman of Distinction: Mrs. Ruth Shuey
President: Marge Fisher


1967

Press Woman of the Year: Agnes Cooke
President:


1966

Press Woman of the Year: Ulrich Troubetzkoy
President:


1965

Press Woman of the Year: Virginia Biggins
President:


1964

Press Woman of the Year: Vivien Bodeau
President:


1963

Press Woman of the Year: Ulrich Troubetzkoy
President:


1962

Press Woman of the Year: Helen Mugler Stuart White
President:


1961

Press Woman of the Year: Valerie Edinger
President:


1959–1960

President: Pat Bryant