Club honors its 27 top volunteers with Vivian Awards
The National Press Club announced Wednesday 27 Club members as recipients of its 2022 Vivian Awards for their outstanding voluntary contributions to the Club as Journalist and Communicator members.
Reflecting on the past year at a reception for the honorees in the First Amendment Lounge, Club President Jen Judson said, “We saw a nice mix of hybrid events, bringing voices from around the world to Club members … and a healthy return of in-person events that generated new memberships.” She thanked the honorees for bringing business “back up to almost pre-pandemic levels” and noted “a marked increase in young members joining the Club.”
In a video welcoming attendees to the event, the award's namesake, Vivian Vahlberg, the Club’s first woman president in 1982, called the award “the hard work and inspiration” award.
Receiving the Berny Krug Award, the Club's top honor for volunteers, was Elizabeth Hagedorn, chair of the International Correspondents team. Judson credited her and the team she has led for two years with spearheading “one of the most popular events of the year—the Embassy Press Attaché night here at the Club.”
That event produced many new Club members and sparked strong interest from embassies in Washington in partnering with the Club, Judson said. She also credited Hagedorn, a correspondent for Al-Monitor, with reviving “embassy nights,” most recently at the embassy of the Dominican Republic.
Judson praised the Club's recent discussion of press freedom issues in Africa with panelists from Uganda and the Committee to Protect Journalists. Hagedorn, she said, moderated a major event from the Press Freedom team about what it’s been like being a reporter in Afghanistan and the state of journalism there after the U.S. withdrew.
Another top honor, the John Cosgrove Award, for continued exemplary service to the Club, went to a past president, Donna Leinwand Leger.
“Donna was an instant help to me when I took over as president,” said Judson. “She was always ready with excellent advice, but in addition to that she has spent countless hours this year ensuring the future of the Press Club will be bright and distinguished.”
Besides co-chairing two committees and ‘special duties as assigned” Leger has been working on “some things that won’t be released for at least several months” according to Judson, “and has been instrumental in an effort that is extremely important to the club’s future.”
Judson opened her the award ceremony by honoring two members of the Awards team, Alicia Mundy and Peter Urban.
Mundy, she said, assumed the group’s leadership position with longtime co-chair Will Lester who steps back next year, and did “an amazing job” keeping the team on track and on deadline, and recruited “a robust panel of talented judges.” Judson described Urban as “one of the most dependable, long-serving chairs of a judging panel the Club has had.” She thanked Lester for “the heavy lift” year after year as team chair.
Beyond the Krug and Cosgrove awards, 14 Club teams chose members for Vivian awards: Awards; Broadcast; Communicators; Freelancers; Headliners; History and Heritage; International Correspondents; Membership; Membership Engagement; Photography; Press Freedom; Publications; Scholarship; and Young Members.
Vivian Awards recipients are listed here in the same order as their teams above: Alicia Mundy, Peter Urban; Mike Hempen, Adam Konowe, Mike Freedman; Danny Selnick, Karen Addis; Danny Freedman; Jamie Horowitz, Bill Pierce; D. J. Caulfield; Viola Gienger, Claude Porsella; Rebecca Baker; Katie Byrnes; Jan Zastrow, Ben Sarao, Alan Kotok; Dagmar Thiel, Zach Cohen; Chris Teale, Daniel Moore; Alexis Garcia; and Brittany Shammas, Jessica Mendoza.