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Announcing the 2015 Chapter Award Winners

Published on 10/20/2015

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (October 12, 2015) – Professional and Student Chapter Awards were presented to chapter representatives and award winners at the AWC Conference this past Saturday, October 10.


The Lubbock TX and Springfield MO Professional Chapters won the Overall Outstanding Chapter Award (Chapter over 50 members and under 50 members, respectively,) while the Washington State University Student Chapter took home the Outstanding Student Chapter Award.


Lubbock, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Seattle, Springfield MO, and Tulsa Professional Chapters all earned Chapter Excellence awards.


Chapters also took home awards for excellence in specific areas.

  • Outstanding Communications: Tulsa, OK
  • Most Creative Chapter Programming: Lubbock, TX
  • Most Innovative Professional Development Activity or Special Event: Lubbock, TX
  • Best Special Event (Chapter over 50 members): Lubbock, TX
  • Best Special Event (Chapter under 50 members): Oklahoma City, OK
  • Outstanding Work Benefiting Students: Tulsa, OK
  • Most Innovative Membership Recruitment/Retention Activity: Tulsa, OK
 The Star Award is presented to members who display exceptional dedication and leadership within their chapter.  Six were given this year, to six exceptional women.  One Rising Star Award was also presented, to a student with a strong dedication to communications and her chapter.
 
Bloomington-Normal, IL: Jackie Langhoff
Owner, Myself4Life Coaching
Last year, Jackie was instrumental in bringing about her chapter’s new Fall Workshop. The workshop helped women explore their potential as communicators, and the successful event brought interest and attention to the chapter. Yet Jackie’s dedication to the chapter goes far beyond this year. In the past, Jackie revolutionized the role of Vice President of Membership. When the chapter was in dire need, she returned to the role, and stayed on an additional year as a member of a small troop of women dedicated to seeing the chapter empower a new generation of young, professional women.

Detroit, MI: Laura Oliveto
Meeting Coordinators, Inc.
Laura served as president of the Detroit chapter for three years. She identified and established three goals to address during her tenure: To build a strong board, provide value to members, and ensure the chapter was solvent. She not only accomplished each of these goals, but exceeded all expectations with vision, passion, and tenacity.
 
Lubbock, TX: Alyssa Kitten
Communications & Digital Manager, Visit Lubbock
As VP for Programs, Alyssa coordinated impressive monthly programs over a wide range of industry-related and personal growth topics for both personal and professional development – from real-time marketing and media law to personal financial planning and work/life balance. Particularly popular was a half-day PR workshop, which featured a robust lineup of industry leaders as speakers and showcased the chapter to PR professionals throughout the area.
 
San Antonio, TX: Ginger H. Carnes
Public Relations Director
While serving as immediate past president of her chapter, Ginger stepped up and trained two webmasters, eventually taking over the job herself and becoming invaluable to the San Antonio Chapter’s web presence. She stepped up to chair a media workshop for non-profits, selling out the 300 seats well in advance of the event, and chaired the committees to plan several other successful events.

Springfield, IL: Christy Broccardo
Marketing Specialist, Springfield Clinic
Christy has been involved with AWC for more than 20 years. She began taking on leadership roles quickly, and served as the chapter president in 1994-95. Since then, she has held many hats, serving as jobs chair, webmaster, VP membership, and more! In 2013, she chaired the marketing committee for the national conference, hosted by AWC Springfield, IL, and she has also served as a Clarion judge. More recently, she has served as a student liaison and scholarship chair, working with a local organization to create a permanent endowment for the AWC Springfield IL scholarship fund.

Springfield, MO: Anjanette LaBellarte-Gilbert
Development Director, Drury University
Upon joining in 2013, Anjanette jumped right in! She became chapter president in 2014, and made it her mission to increase awareness of AWC within the community. She worked with the membership chair to ensure that to ensure that guests and new members felt welcome. Her enthusiasm is contagious. In 2014, Anjanette was nominated for the Woman of Distinction Award. She is a woman of excellence and one that “leans in”.

Rising Star:
Washington State University: Megan Murnane
Megan brings a can-do attitude to her position as president of her student chapter. She coordinates programs of particular interest to students, preparing them for internships and jobs. One event even focused on how to give an ‘elevator speech.’ She also coordinated a successful silent auction during Moms Weekend, going store to store to solicit donations to help ensure the financial health of her chapter. When she isn’t working on AWC, she spends her time working for WSU’s Cable 8 Productions.

Congratulations to the winners!