Awards

Our longest standing project, the Community Improvement Program Award is the heart and soul of GFWC and aims to meet the needs of individual communities. The Community Improvement Program Award provides a vision for the future of the relationships between clubs and their communities. You can download the Community Improvement Program Award Entry Form from the Club Manual.

National CIP Awards

GFWC State Awards

The GFWC Jennie Award honors one clubwoman from each GFWC Region for outstanding commitment to club, community, and family. They are chosen by their clubs to compete at state, region, and national levels for their outstanding personal commitment to club, community, and family.

The GFWC Jennie Award is named in honor of GFWC’s founder, Jane Cunningham Croly, who wrote for national newspapers under the pseudonym, “Jennie June.” The award highlights those extraordinary clubwomen who epitomize her spirit of independence, courage, and persistence in purpose through their roles as volunteers within their clubs, elsewhere in the community, and as members of a family or extended family. Although GFWC has many awards for states and clubs, the GFWC Jennie Award is the only national honor that recognizes individual members for personal excellence. In fact, it is the highest honor bestowed by GFWC.

The Jane Cunningham Croly Award for Excellence in Journalism Covering Issues of Concern to Women recognizes journalists who best capture the courage, vision, and spirit of Jane Cunningham Croly. Jane Cunningham Croly was a pioneering journalist who devoted her life to helping women improve their lives and expand their rights. The Croly Award winner must demonstrate a concern for the rights and the advancement of women in our society; an awareness of women’s sensitivity, strength, and courage; and/or an attempt to counteract existing sexism.

The Croly Award is a biennial competition. The next award will be granted at the 2021 Annual Convention.

The Charlotte Emerson Brown Award for Excellence in State Leadership will recognize the exemplary service of State Presidents to their State Federations and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. GFWC will celebrate the 2018-2020 honorees during the GFWC Annual Convention in Atlanta, Georgia in June of 2020. If multiple nominees meet the criteria, multiple awards will be presented. The purpose of the award is to recognize GFWC State Presidents who have demonstrated leadership and commitment that goes above and beyond basic expectations. The 2018-2020 Administration nomination form is available here.

There will be an Awards Program for states based upon membership categories established at the beginning of each administration to recognize their efforts in supporting GFWC Special Programs, Community Service Programs, and Advancement Areas.