History: Leadership & Awards

2020
Communicator of Achievement: Frances Broaddus Crutchfield
Newsmaker of the Year: Christy Coleman, CEO, American Civil War Museum
President: Julie Grimes
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2019
Communicator of Achievement: Cathy Jett
Newsmaker of the Year: Kim Drew Wright, founder, Liberal Women of Chesterfield County & Beyond, writer
President: Julie Grimes
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2018
Newsmaker of the Year: Del. Danica Roem, one of the nation’s first openly transgender elected officials, former journalist
President: Julie Campbell
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2017
Communicator of Achievement: Deborah Padgett
President: Cynthia Price
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2016
Communicator of Achievement: Bonnie Atwood (also national COA runner-up)
Newsmaker of the Year: Virginia Tech’s Flint, Michigan, Water Study Research Team
President: Gail Kent
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2015
Communicator of the Year: Linda Evans
President: Gail Kent
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2014
Communicator of the Year: Julie Campbell
Newsmaker of the Year: Marietta McCarty, philosopher and New York Times best selling author
President: Bonnie Atwood
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2013
Communicator of Achievement: None named
Newsmaker of the Year: Susan Greenbaum, singer, songwriter, volunteer
President: Bonnie Atwood
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2012
Communicator of Achievement: Cynthia Price (also winner of NFPW Communicator of Achievement)
Newsmaker of the Year: Robin Abbott & Katherine Waddell, Founders, Women’s Strike Force
President: Cathy Jett
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2011
Distinguished Service Award: Gwen Woolf
Announced October 2011 in Richmond
Newsmaker of the Year: Rowena Fullinwider, businesswoman
President: Cathy Jett
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2010
Communicator of Achievement: Barbara Crookshanks
Newsmaker of the Year: Doris Buffett, philanthropist
President: Gwen Woolf
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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
NFPW President: Cynthia Price, 2009-2011
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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
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2007
Communicator of Achievement:
Mary Jane King, announced September 2007 in Richmond
President: Sande Snead
[No Newsmaker named for 2007]
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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
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2005
Communicator of Achievement:
Nancy Beasley, announced fall 2005 in Fredericksburg
Newsmaker of the Year: Geraldine Brooks, novelist and journalist
President: Julie Campbell
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2004
Communicator of Achievement: Norma Lugar
Newsmaker of the Year: Rita McClenny, head, Virginia Film Office
President: Cynthia Price
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2003
Communicator of Achievement: Mary Ann Johnson
Newsmaker of the Year: Suzanne Lebsock, author, professor, historian
President: Cynthia Price
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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
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2001
Communicator of Achievement: Dorothy Livingston Ulich Troubetzkoy
Newsmaker of the Year: Adriana Trigiani, novelist
President: Pam Stallsmith
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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
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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
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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
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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
NFPW Communicator of Achievement: Louise Seals
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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
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1995
Distinguished Service Award: Lynn Nystrom
Newsmaker of the Year: Patricia D. Cornwell, best-selling crime novelist
President: Susan Winiecki
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1994
Distinguished Service Award: Pauline Mitchell
Newsmaker of the Year: Lillian Vernon, entrepreneur
President: Martha Steger
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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
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1992
Communicator of Achievement: George Crutchfield
Newsmaker of the Year: Patricia Kluge, Albemarle County businesswoman and philanthropist
President: Louise Seals
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1991
Press Woman of the Year: Norma Pierce
Newsmaker of the Year: Dr. Georgeanna Seegar Jones, pioneer in infertility research
President: Louise Seals
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1990
Press Woman of the Year: Mary C. Holliman
Newsmaker of the Year: Elizabeth B. Lacy, first woman on the Virginia Supreme Court
President:
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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
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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
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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
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1986
Press Woman of the Year: Louise Seals
Newsmaker of the Year: Margaret Sanger Marston
President: Mary Jane King
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1985
Press Woman of the Year:
Newsmaker of the Year: Mary Sue Terry, activist Virginia attorney general
President:
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1984
Press Woman of the Year: Joan Deppa
Newsmaker of the Year: Anne Dobie Peebles
President:
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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:
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1982
Press Woman of the Year: Loretta Gillespie
Newsmaker of the Year:
President: LeeNora Everett
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1981
Press Woman of the Year: LeeNora Everett
Newsmaker of the Year: Marianne C. Stanley
President: LeeNora Everett
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1980
Press Woman of the Year: Pat Royal Perkinson
Newsmaker of the Year: Jessie Rattley
President:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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1972
Press Woman of the Year: Ruby Jean Phillips Uhler
Newsmaker of the Year: Jinks Holton, first lady of Virginia
President:
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1971
Press Woman of the Year: Marge Fisher
Newsmaker of the Year: Vivian Carter Mason, Norfolk civil rights leader
President: Myrtle Barnes
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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
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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
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1968
Press Woman of the Year: Ruth H. Barner
Woman of Distinction: Mrs. Ruth Shuey
President: Marge Fisher
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1967
Press Woman of the Year: Agnes Cooke
President:
NFPW President: Ulrich Troubetzkoy, 1967-69
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1966
Press Woman of the Year: Ulrich Troubetzkoy
President:
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1965
Press Woman of the Year: Virginia Biggins
President:
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1964
Press Woman of the Year: Vivien Bodeau
President:
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1963
Press Woman of the Year: Ulrich Troubetzkoy
President:
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1962
Press Woman of the Year: Helen Mugler Stuart White
President:
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1961
Press Woman of the Year: Valerie Edinger
President:
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President: Pat Bryant