Colorado Press Women70th Anniversary Celebration
CPW 70th anniversary bash enjoyed by all
Colorado Press Women celebrated the organization's 70th anniversary in style at the Governor's Mansion on Aug. 11. Members past and present dressed in '40s attire, sipped champagne while catching up and honoring the 30 women who founded Colorado Press Women in July 1941. The program included a speech by NFPW president Cynthia Price, reading of a tribute letter from Colorado first lady Helen Thorpe, a welcome from the governor's staff, and stories of famous women journalists throughout history shared by CPW members.
Price congratulated CPW and noted the value that Press Women offers to professional communicators through networking, professional growth and friendship. She noted that "we have to maintain and grow our skills." NFPW's great speakers and seminars offer what we need to survive and thrive in an ever-evolving communications industry, Price noted.
In her congratulatory letter to CPW, Thorpe said, "As a female journalist, the Colorado Press Women is an organization I hold dear. CPW's long history of providing guidance and support to women in journalism is admirable, and in a field that continues to be male-dominated, CPW's relevance in the 21st century cannot be understated."
History of CPW
In 1941, professional organizations for journalists and press clubs across the nation-including the Denver Press Club and the National Press Club-excluded women as members. So on July 26, 1941, 30 women journalists and writers attended a luncheon in the Denver Dry Goods Tea Room and voted to create Colorado Press Women as a professional organization. In August 1941, Elisabeth Kuskulis was elected as the first president, and dues were set at $2 a year. In October 1941, CPW held its first statewide meeting in Flagler, and 48 women from around the state voted to apply for affiliate membership in the National Federation of Press Women.
Early on, CPW fought for journalists' rights and freedom of the press when it protested the International Conference on Food and Agriculture in Virginia after it attempted to exclude journalists from the conference.
Less than a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor, CPW adopted its first resolution: pledging support of the civilian defense program. Over the next two decades, the organization also supported:
- Legislation to fund free public libraries in rural Colorado;
- Special education at public schools throughout the state;
- Preserving the state's scenic assets and forests;
- Additional services for returning World War II soldiers;
- Improving the Colorado Children's Code, highway safety and mental health services;
- A proposal to include a secretary of peace in the U.S. president's cabinet.
In the 1960s, the organization sharpened its focus and began providing professional development workshops. Since then, CPW has held several workshops and provocative programs every year. CPW has hosted four NFPW conferences, most recently in 2006.
Over the years, CPW has grown to become a diverse organization of both men and women journalists, freelancers, authors and publishers, radio and TV broadcasters, photographers, graphic artists, and advertising, marketing and public relations professionals, bloggers and writers for the Web.
About women in journalism
A highlight of the anniversary celebration was CPW members talking about such groundbreaking women journalists as:
- Anne Royall, a reporter in 1769, who was convicted of being a "common scold" for her reporting. Royall caught President John Quincy Adams during one of his usual early morning baths in the Potomac River. She gathered the president's clothes and sat on them until he answered her questions, earning her the first presidential interview ever granted to a woman.
- Nellie Bly, an investigative reporter for the New York World in the late 1800s, who feigned insanity to be admitted to an insane asylum so she could report about it.
- Ida B. Wells, a newspaper editor who was born into slavery, documented lynching in the United States.
- Anne O'Hare McCormick, who was a foreign news correspondent for the New York Times and received a Pulitzer Prize, becoming the first woman to receive a major category Pulitzer award.
