THE WOMEN'S MEDIA CENTER hosted their 2022 WOMEN’S MEDIA AWARDS on November 17th at the Mandarin Oriental in New York City.
The WMC AWARDS were presented to outstanding leaders and champions for women in media. This year’s WMC 2022 Women’s Media Awards honorees were: Andrea Mitchell, Robin Roberts, Mariana Ardila Trujillo, Loretta J. Ross, Salamishah Tillet, Loreen Arbus, and Maria Martinez.
WOMEN’S MEDIA CENTER Co-Founders Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem, and WMC President & CEO Julie Burton gave remarks at the gala. WMC Co-Founder Jane Fonda, WMC Board Chair Janet Dewart Bell, WMC Co-Chair Emerita and Board Member Pat Mitchell made special appearances via Zoom. Farai Chideya, former WMC President Carol Jenkins, and WMC Board Member Erica González Martínez made appearances at the gala.
The Women’s Media Center opened the Women’s Media Awards with a special WMC Solidarity Tribute to the Women’s Revolution in Iran. WMC Co-Founders, Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem made statements that call on women everywhere to move in solidarity with Iranian women. WMC Co-Founder Robin Morgan noted in the statement: “This is the first contemporary women’s revolution, of consequence to the whole world.”
The WOMEN’S MEDIA CENTER 2022 Women’s Media Award Honorees were:
· Andrea Mitchell, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent, host of MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, and author of Talking Back … to Presidents, Dictators, and Assorted Scoundrels, received the WMC Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award.
· Robin Roberts, Co-Anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America, President of Rock’n Robin Productions, and best-selling author of multiple books, received the WMC Visible and Powerful Award.
· Mariana Ardila Trujillo, lawyer, professor, one of the leaders in the successful decriminalization of abortion in the country of Colombia, and newly appointed Transitional Justice Director of the Ministry of Justice and Law in Colombia, received the WMC Progressive Women’s Voices IMPACT Award.
· Loretta J. Ross, MacArthur Genius Award Recipient, Co-Founder of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, longtime reproductive justice champion, activist, public intellectual, professor, and internationally recognized human rights activist, received the WMC Progressive Women’s Voices IMPACT Award.
· Salamishah Tillet, Pulitzer-prize winning contributing critic-at-large for The New York Times covering popular culture, gender, sexuality, race & politics, author, scholar, activist, and Henry Rutgers Professor of Africana Studies and Creative Writing at Rutgers University, received the WMC Progressive Women’s Voices IMPACT Award.
· Loreen Arbus, President of The Loreen Arbus Foundation and The Goldenson-Arbus Foundation, producer, author, media pioneer, and disability rights activist, received the WMC Leadership Award.
· Maria Martinez, Chief Operating Officer at Cisco. A transformational leader and engineer at heart, Martinez has been an executive at SalesForce, Microsoft, Motorola, and more. She received the WMC Carol Jenkins Award.
· The Women’s Revolution in Iran received a special WMC Solidarity Tribute from Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem, Co-Founders of the WOMEN’S MEDIA CENTER.
The WMC also remembered Lois Sasson in a special tribute. Lois, a longtime supporter of the Women’s Media Center, gay rights activist, and jewelry designer, died last year.
“The Women’s Media Awards honor champions for women. The WOMEN’S MEDIA CENTER honorees set the standard for what media should look like when it gives voice to the female half of the country,” said Julie Burton, President & CEO of the WOMEN’S MEDIA CENTER.
Women’s Media Awards Co-Chairs were: Janet Dewart Bell, Jane Fonda, Mellody Hobson, Cindy Holland, Victoria Jackson, Michelle Mercer & Bruce Golden, Pat Mitchell, Robin Morgan, Lynda & Stewart Resnick, Sheryl Sandberg, Regina K. Scully, Gloria Steinem, and Mary & Steven Swig.
In addition to the WMC leadership and honorees, VIPs attending included: Sheryl Sandberg, Tarana Burke, Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jones, Carol Jenkins, Arianna Huffington, Farai Chideya, Vanessa De Luca, Martha Nelson, Bonnie Schafer, Danielle Belton, Donna Deitch, Yvette Miley, and Jessica Valenti.
Proceeds from these awards support the work of the WOMEN’S MEDIA CENTER.
Past WMC honorees include Luvvie Ajayi, Christiane Amanpour, Amma Asante, Laura Bates, Samantha Bee, Ursula Burns, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Katie Couric, Abigail Disney, Sady Doyle, Mona Eltahawy, Fatima Goss Graves, Maria Hinojosa, Cindy Holland, Sarah Hoye, Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff, Sheila C. Johnson, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Ashley Judd, Maria Teresa Kumar, Laura Ling and Lisa Ling, Lara Logan, Pat Mitchell, Martha Nelson, Soledad O’Brien, Salma Hayek Pinault, Elianne Ramos, Joy Reid, April Ryan, Anita Sarkeesian, Regina K. Scully, Mary Thom, Marlo Thomas, Barbara Walters, Padmasree Warrior, Lindy West, and Maggie Wilderotter.
To find out more about the important ongoing work of the WOMEN’S MEDIA CENTER, visit: www.womensmediacenter.com.