{"id":3526,"date":"2026-04-28T13:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/?p=3526"},"modified":"2026-04-28T13:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:37:11","slug":"2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Newsmaker Cheryl Wilson: ‘Coming home’ to Virginia in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Martha Steger<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wilson emphasized that Virginia’s 250th-anniversary commemoration isn’t “just another anniversary celebration.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You might be from Boston or Baton Rouge,” she said, but when you get to Virginia, “you’re not simply making a trip \u2013 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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contests-awards"],"yoast_head":"\n2025 Newsmaker Cheryl Wilson: 'Coming home' to Virginia in 2026 - 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\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2025 Newsmaker Cheryl Wilson: 'Coming home' to Virginia in 2026 - VPC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Virginia Professional Communicators\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"VPC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/42804826486\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"VaCommunicators\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-28T17:37:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Cheryl-Wilson-and-Tracy-Perkins2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1498\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"894\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"VPC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"VPC\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"VPC\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8dd82343fadf1a1f3997437b44e25c62\"},\"headline\":\"2025 Newsmaker Cheryl Wilson: ‘Coming home’ to Virginia in 2026\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-28T17:37:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":156,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Cheryl-Wilson-and-Tracy-Perkins2-1024x611.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Contests & Awards\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\\\/\",\"name\":\"2025 Newsmaker Cheryl Wilson: 'Coming home' to Virginia in 2026 - VPC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Cheryl-Wilson-and-Tracy-Perkins2-1024x611.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-28T17:37:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8dd82343fadf1a1f3997437b44e25c62\"},\"description\":\"Virginia Professional Communicators\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Cheryl-Wilson-and-Tracy-Perkins2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Cheryl-Wilson-and-Tracy-Perkins2.jpg\",\"width\":1498,\"height\":894},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2025 Newsmaker Cheryl Wilson: ‘Coming home’ to Virginia in 2026\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/\",\"name\":\"VPC\",\"description\":\"Virginia Professional Communicators\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8dd82343fadf1a1f3997437b44e25c62\",\"name\":\"VPC\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2e91397981af5f44c868212d0bff74cbb02715a32623f88cdfb27e61cb4c1a0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2e91397981af5f44c868212d0bff74cbb02715a32623f88cdfb27e61cb4c1a0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2e91397981af5f44c868212d0bff74cbb02715a32623f88cdfb27e61cb4c1a0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"VPC\"},\"sameAs\":[\"VaCommunicators\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/VaCommunicators\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vapc.org\\\/vapc\\\/author\\\/wpvapcadmin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"2025 Newsmaker Cheryl Wilson: 'Coming home' to Virginia in 2026 - VPC","description":"Virginia Professional Communicators","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"2025 Newsmaker Cheryl Wilson: 'Coming home' to Virginia in 2026 - VPC","og_description":"Virginia Professional Communicators","og_url":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/","og_site_name":"VPC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/42804826486\/","article_author":"VaCommunicators","article_published_time":"2026-04-28T17:37:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1498,"height":894,"url":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Cheryl-Wilson-and-Tracy-Perkins2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"VPC","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"VPC","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/"},"author":{"name":"VPC","@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/#\/schema\/person\/8dd82343fadf1a1f3997437b44e25c62"},"headline":"2025 Newsmaker Cheryl Wilson: ‘Coming home’ to Virginia in 2026","datePublished":"2026-04-28T17:37:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/"},"wordCount":156,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Cheryl-Wilson-and-Tracy-Perkins2-1024x611.jpg","articleSection":["Contests & Awards"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/","url":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/","name":"2025 Newsmaker Cheryl Wilson: 'Coming home' to Virginia in 2026 - VPC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Cheryl-Wilson-and-Tracy-Perkins2-1024x611.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-28T17:37:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/#\/schema\/person\/8dd82343fadf1a1f3997437b44e25c62"},"description":"Virginia Professional Communicators","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Cheryl-Wilson-and-Tracy-Perkins2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Cheryl-Wilson-and-Tracy-Perkins2.jpg","width":1498,"height":894},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/2025-newsmaker-cheryl-wilson-coming-home-to-virginia-in-2026\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"2025 Newsmaker Cheryl Wilson: ‘Coming home’ to Virginia in 2026"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/","name":"VPC","description":"Virginia Professional Communicators","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/#\/schema\/person\/8dd82343fadf1a1f3997437b44e25c62","name":"VPC","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e91397981af5f44c868212d0bff74cbb02715a32623f88cdfb27e61cb4c1a0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e91397981af5f44c868212d0bff74cbb02715a32623f88cdfb27e61cb4c1a0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2e91397981af5f44c868212d0bff74cbb02715a32623f88cdfb27e61cb4c1a0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"VPC"},"sameAs":["VaCommunicators","https:\/\/x.com\/VaCommunicators"],"url":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/author\/wpvapcadmin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3526"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3530,"href":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3526\/revisions\/3530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vapc.org\/vapc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}