Past Winners and Judges
2008
Winner: Laura Ungar, health reporter for The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., for a series based in India and focused on efforts by researchers at the University of Louisville to develop cervical cancer vaccine options for the world's poorest populations.
Judges
Jill M. Hermann-Wilmarth, Assistant Professor of Special Education and Literacy Studies, Western Michigan University
Lisa See, Edgar-award winning author, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005)
Kimberly Otis, Executive Director, National Council of Women's Organizations
2007
Winner: Marianne Pearl, for her "Global Diary" series in Glamour magazine, where she seeks to meet women who, by challenging their own fate, are shaping our world and helping to write the history of our generation.
Judges
Erin Fuller, Executive Director, National Association of Women Business Owners
Rita Henley Jensen, Editor in Chief, Women's Enews
Kate Washington, Ph.D., freelance journalist
2006
Winner: Lou Kilzer, reporter at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colo., for his series, "Battered Justice," (written in part by Sarah Huntley), which discloses the serious flaws and questions about the methods used by the criminal justice system in Colorado and elsewhere to fight domestic violence over the past 20 years.
Judges
Jane Chesnutt, Editor, Woman's Day magazine
Susan Swartz, Author and Columnist, The Press Democrat, Santa Rose CA
Laurie Westley, Sr. Vice President, The Girl Scouts of the USA
2005
Winner: Sharon Lerner, freelance writer, who has covered issues of concern to women for the past 10 years, for articles that appeared in The Village Voice and The Nation magazine.
Judges
Peggy Sanchez Mills, CEO and Executive Director, YMCA of the USA
Evelyn Rudd, Senior Deputy Editor, Good Housekeeping
Professor Rose Ann Robertson, Director of Writing Programs, School of Communications/American University
2004
Winner: Mariko Thompson, reporter, Los Angeles Daily News, for articles that explore current scientific research on two major illnesses affecting women, heart disease and breast cancer.
Judges
Susan Kelliher Ungaro, Editor, Family Circle magazine
Laura Sessions Stepp, reporter, The Washington Post
Dr. Jane E. Smith, CEO, Business and Professional Women/USA
2003
Winner: Susan Swartz, reporter for The Press Democrat, for articles that explore the gaps in perception between the roles of men and women in a society often dominated by the male viewpoint.
Judges
Bonnie Angelo, Time magazine Bureau Chief (ret.) and author
Marina Pisano, reporter, San Antonio Express-News
Susan Scanlon, President, Women's Research and Education Institute
2002
Winner: Rahel Musleah, freelance writer, for three articles about the achievements of extraordinary women.
Judges
Joan Lowy, Scripps Howard News Service
Leslie Milk, Lifestyle Editor, Washingtonian Magazine
Judith Mueller, Executive Director, The Woman's Center
2001
Winner: Rachel Zimmerman, a reporter in the New York bureau of The Wall Street Journal, for articles dealing with the politics of the abortion pill RU-486.
Judges
Marianne Means, syndicated columnist, Hearst News Service, King Features, New York Times Wire
Myriam Marquez, editorial writer, The Orlando Sentinel
Molly Murphy-MacGregor, executive director, the National Women's History Project
2000
Winner: David Crary, Associated Press national writer covering family and relationship issues, for articles dealing with divorce among lesbians who are jointly raising a child; the diverse epidemic in four Bible belt states; and a unique prison that allows children up to 6 years old to live with their mothers who are completing jail terms.
Judges
Myrna Blyth, Publishing Director and Editor-in-Chief, Ladies Home Journal
Marta Barber, reporter, The Miami Herald
Rosalind Stark, author and consultant specializing in issues relating to education and the media
1999
Winner: Marina Pisano, feature writer, San Antonia Express-News, for articles dealing with the invisibility of women in traditional American history; the plight of a woman who, at 34 learned, that she has terminal colon cancer; and the controversy surrounding Navy pilot Kara Hultgreen's tragic crash.
Judges
Geneva Overholser, syndicated columnist with The Washington Post Writers Group and past chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Board
Sheila Gibbons, editor of Media Report to Women and vice president of Communication Research Associates
Ann Miller Morin, author of "Her Excellency: An Oral History of American Women Ambassadors," and director of the Women Ambassadors Project
1998
Winner: Paula Bock, Seattle Times, for three articles about strong women who make hard decisions and find meaning in life.
Judges
Helen Thomas, Chief Correspondent, United Press International
Laura Liswood, Executive Director, Women's Leadership Initiative, John F. Kennedy School of Government/ Harvard University
Sara Hammel, reporter, U.S. News & World Report and 1996 Croly Award winner
1997
Winner: Ilana DeBare, Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, Calif., for her three-part series about the gender gap in the computer industry.
Judges
Eleanor Clift, Newsweek contributing editor and McLaughlin group regular
Junior Bridges, whose firm, Unabridged Communications, conducts surveys for Women, Men and Media
Maureen Beasley, professor of Journalism at the University of Maryland and author of books and research on women in the media
1996
Winner: Sara Hammel, Middlesex News, Framingham, Mass., for her three-part series on an army-sponsored women's strength study to determine if women can perform demanding physical strength tasks usually assigned to men in the military.
Judges
Judy Mann, author and columnist for The Washington Post
Nancy Woodhull, founding editor of USA Today and co-chair of Women, Men and Media
Gale Ellsworth, Executive Director, Women in Communications
