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About VPW

   

Highlights of the Past 49 Years

Webmaster's note: The following is a work in progress. Members, please let us know additions and corrections: vpw@civilwartraveler.com


Our Founding

VPW was founded in Richmond in 1958 as an organization for newspaper editors and writers. The constitution was amended one year later to extend membership to "any writer actively engaged in journalistic services for remuneration." In 1973, membership was opened to men who support the mission of VPW.

Charter members included Norma Lugar and Lib Wiley.


National Honors

Louise Seals, NFPW Communicator of Achievement, 1997
Ulrich Troubetzkoy, NFPW President, 1967–1969
NFPW Conferences in Virginia, 1987 (Williamsburg) and 2007 (Richmond)


VPW Members in the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame

Lois D. Watkins (1987)
Owner, Hanover Herald-Progress

George Crutchfield (1990)
Journalism educator, Virginia Commonwealth University (retired)

Myrtle Barnes (1993)
Managing Editor, Newport News Times-Herald and Newport News Daily Press (retired)

Pauline Allen Mitchell (1998)
Director of Community Relations, Chesterfield County (retired)

Martha W. Steger APR (2001)
Director of Public Relations, Virginia Tourism Corporation

Ulrich Troubetzkoy (2001)
Feature and series writer, The Richmond Times-Dispatch; Editor, Virginia Wildlife

Louise Seals (2003)
Managing Editor, Richmond Times-Dispatch (retired)

Eva S. Teig Hardy (2006)
Senior Vice President, External Affairs & Corporate Communications, Dominion


VPW Awards and Presidency by Year


2008

Distinguished Service Award:
    Cynthia Price and Pam Stallsmith, announced March 29 in Staunton
Newsmaker of the Year:
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

 
 

Updated 16-Apr-2008 Norma Pierce