New Mexico Chapter of AWC
The New Mexico Chapter of the Association for Women in Communications has members in fields such as marketing, corporate communications, event planning, public relations, journalism, fundraising, web development, advertising and graphic design. Our diverse membership offers great networking with peers at luncheons and numerous events.
We encourage prospective members and guests to learn about our organization by joining our email list, attending events and volunteering. The benefits of membership in our chapter extend beyond access to a broad network of communicators: we develop leadership skills, connect people with jobs, learn from each other and foster great personal and business relationships.
AWC welcomes new members with our "New Members Orientations" held at Ironstone Bank, Monday, February 22, from 3:30-4:45.
Save the Date for our Spring Schmooze, Monday, May 3rd.
Welcome and thank you to our two new board members, Lisa Rodriguez, Facilities Chair and Peter Rinn, Membership Retention.
AWC National Organization
The Association for Women in Communications (formerly known as Women in Communications, Inc.) is dedicated to leading change in the communications professions through information exchange, leadership, professional development and technology. The American-based association boasts a membership of more than 7,500 communicators with more than 60 professional and 90 student chapters.
Members represent public relations, corporate communications, marketing, promotions, journalism, television, radio, advertising, development, graphic arts, Internet publishing, technical writing, education, government relations, and communications law.
Founded in 1909 as Theta Sigma Phi at the University of Washington in Seattle, the association has continued to grow and change. The founding principles, however, still serve as touchstones.
• to promote the advancement of women in all fields of communications
• to work for the First Amendment rights and responsibilities of communicators
• to recognize distinguished professional achievements
• to promote high professional standards throughout the communications industry
ANN CURRY NAMED 2009 AWC INTERNATIONAL MATRIX AWARD HONOREE
The Association for Women in Communications (AWC) announces Ann Curry,
news anchor of America’s number one morning news program NBC
News’ “Today,” and anchor of “Dateline NBC,” as
the 2009 International Matrix Award recipient.
Since 1998, the International Matrix Award has honored one outstanding individual each year for achieving the highest level of professional excellence in communications. Curry will be presented the award at the International Matrix & Clarion Awards Celebration Dinner on the evening of Sat., Oct. 17, during the 2009 AWC National Conference in Seattle, Wash. AWC is celebrating its centennial anniversary during this conference.
Curry first joined NBC News in August 1990 as a Chicago-based correspondent. Since then, she has distinguished herself in global humanitarian reporting frequently traveling to remote areas of the world for under-reported stories. During the span of one year, from March 2006 to March 2007, she traveled three times to Sudan to report on the violence and ethnic cleansing taking place in Darfur and Chad. While there, she provided in-depth reports focusing on the victims who have been caught in the deadly conflict of that region, and she also conducted exclusive interviews with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Chadian President Idrsiss Deby.
In spring 2008, Curry broadcast live from the Democratic Republic of the Congo where she reported on the horrific struggles of the women and children from the city of Goma. She also traveled to Serbia in 2008 where she examined the deplorable conditions of Serbia’s mental institutions. Curry, reporting for NBC News from Albania and Macedonia, was the first network news anchor to report on the humanitarian refugee crisis caused by the genocide in Kosovo in 1999.
Curry has conducted numerous exclusive interviews with world leaders and dignitaries, including a one-on-one with Dalai Lama during his trip to the U.S amid violence in Tibet in April 2008, and a sit-down with former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto just two months before her assassination in December 2007. Curry also talked to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in his first-ever interview with an American news organization.
Other Curry exclusives include Liberia’s Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first female elected president of an African nation; the highly sought after interview with Thomas Hamill, the truck driver for Halliburton subsidiary KBR, who escaped captivity in Iraq; the interview with accused spy Wen Ho Lee after he was cleared of all charges of espionage against the United States; and the first interview with the parents of the McCaughey septuplets. Curry repeatedly landed the first interview with Lance Armstrong after his Tour de France wins.
Curry has earned four Emmy Awards, four Golden Mikes, several Associated Press Certificates of Excellence, two Gracie Allen Awards, and an award for Excellence in Reporting from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In June 2007, Curry was honored with the Simon Wiesenthal Medal of Valor for her extensive reporting in Darfur. She has been honored by AmeriCares, Save the Children, the Anti-Defamation League as a Woman of Achievement, and the Asian American Journalists Association, with its National Journalism Award in 2003. She has won numerous awards for her charity work, primarily for breast cancer research.
The AWC National Conference is the premier professional event for the communications industry, and this year AWC is celebrating is 100th anniversary as an organization. The Association for Women in Communications is a professional organization that champions the advancement of women across all communications disciplines by recognizing excellence, promoting leadership and positioning its members at the forefront on the evolving communications era. For more information, go to www.womcom.org.
