By Martha Steger

Cheryl Wilson, executive director of Virginia’s 250th-anniversary commemoration in 2026, was named VPC’s Newsmaker of the Year for 2025. Wilson accepted the engraved award at the annual Spring Conference on May 3.

Wilson emphasized that Virginia’s 250th-anniversary commemoration isn’t “just another anniversary celebration.”

“You might be from Boston or Baton Rouge,” she said, but when you get to Virginia, “you’re not simply making a trip – you’re coming home.” From Virginia’s patriots, such as Patrick Henry, who inspired the revolution “to the battlefields that decided it, Virginia’s history is America’s history.”

Wilson invited communicators to “provide transparency… to leave space for the audience to make up their own minds” on issues. “People like being included,” she said, emphasizing the importance of inclusivity.

“When we sit around the table as a family, we tell stories.” It’s the storytelling that will be at the heart of the nation’s 250th birthday.