{"id":1722,"date":"2017-04-21T08:58:50","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T12:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vapc.org\/?page_id=1722"},"modified":"2017-08-07T10:05:52","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T14:05:52","slug":"honoring-the-pioneers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/honoring-the-pioneers\/","title":{"rendered":"Honoring the Pioneers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A History of Virginia Press Women and Virginia Professional Communicators<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1958 newspapers were plentiful, but career opportunities for women in newspapers were starkly different than those for men. Men wrote the \u201chard news,\u201d and women were assigned to write the \u201csocial\u201d stories \u2014 fundraising events, weddings, anniversaries, food, decorating and fashion. Employment ads were segregated, too: \u201cHelp wanted\u2014male\u201d and \u201cHelp wanted\u2014female.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were enough feisty women in Virginia to rebel. They wanted demanding careers, equal recognition and a fair shot at seats in the courtrooms, the legislatures, the governors\u2019 press conferences and the editors\u2019 desks. They did something to make it happen. They started a new organization, and they called it \u201cVirginia Press Women.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Conferences and Contests
\n<\/strong>In the late 1950s, they organized a statewide conference, and two each year after that. By the year 2017, the group had held about 120 conferences in various parts of the state: Richmond, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Roanoke, Norfolk, Farmville, Lexington, and other places, too. The conferences have been filled with continuing education, recognition for awards and networking.<\/p>\n

They recognized that their members were so talented, they should be recognized with annual awards for writing, photography, editing and many other categories. Recognition expanded to include \u201cPress Woman of the Year,\u201d also known as \u201cWoman of Distinction,\u201d which evolved to \u201cCommunicator of Achievement.\u201d VPW also started a \u201cDistinguished Service Award.\u201d<\/p>\n

These contest winners and award winners would be doubly honored, because Virginia Press Women enjoyed its affiliate relationship with the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW), which included chartered affiliates from other states. Virginia Press Women has always been actively engaged with NFPW, as many award winners advanced to national recognition and national leadership. On many occasions, Virginia Press Women took the coveted \u201cSweepstakes\u201d award, given to the state that wins the most award points.<\/p>\n

Another major Virginia Press Women recognition is \u201cNewsmaker of the Year.\u201d That title goes to the person (or group) with ties to Virginia and who has done something to make significant news in the past year. The list of honorees is long and impressive. Records go back to 1969, when Ann H. Kilgore, the mayor of Hampton, was chosen. Many of the winners have been active in politics, but winners have also come from philanthropy (Patricia Kluge, Doris Buffett), the arts (Daphne and Tim Reid, Susan Greenbaum), the military (Lt. Paula Coughlin, Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, Brig. Gen. Gail M. Reals), entrepreneurs (Lillian Vernon, Rowena Fullinwider), religion (Virginia\u2019s women priests), and, of course, writers (Patricia Cornwell, Nikki Giovanni). A clear favorite was Big Stone Gap\u2019s native daughter, Adriana Trigiani. And a famous international star was honored in 1978: Elizabeth Taylor.<\/p>\n

The high school writing contest was introduced in 1982. Ten years later, a scholarship was initiated and named for the inimitable Alice Cooke of Northern Neck. She was a founding member, former president and a journalistic force with which to be reckoned.<\/p>\n

Being a group of writers, VPW has always provided a newsletter, cleverly titled, \u201cGalley Pruf.\u201d The group compiled a cookbook in 1964, which can be found in the Library of Virginia.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

National Leadership
\n<\/strong>Virginia Press Women officers have always been inspiring women with a gift of leadership. Ulrich Troubetzkoy served as president of NFPW from 1967 to 1969. Cynthia Price went from the VPW presidency (2004-2006) to serve as NFPW president (2009-2011). Other national notables are in the area of \u201cCommunicator of Achievement.\u201d Louise Seals, who was one of a handful of female managing editors at one time, and Cynthia Price both won the national honor. Bonnie Atwood was a runner up.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Name Change
\n<\/strong>All of these milestones were achieved under the name Virginia Press Women. However, looking toward a more inclusionary message, the group formally changed its name in 2014. The organization is now called \u201cVirginia Professional Communicators.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A History of Virginia Press Women and Virginia Professional Communicators In 1958 newspapers were plentiful, but career opportunities for women in newspapers were starkly different than those for men. Men wrote the \u201chard news,\u201d and women were assigned to write the \u201csocial\u201d stories \u2014 fundraising events, weddings, anniversaries, food, decorating and fashion. Employment ads were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1722","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nHonoring the Pioneers - VPC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Virginia Professional Communicators\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/honoring-the-pioneers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Honoring the Pioneers - VPC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Virginia Professional Communicators\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/honoring-the-pioneers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"VPC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/42804826486\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-07T14:05:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/VPC-logo-04.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/honoring-the-pioneers\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/honoring-the-pioneers\\\/\",\"name\":\"Honoring the Pioneers - 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