About

What we do

The Press Club of Western Pennsylvania is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The club was founded in 1991 to support journalists and journalism in our region. We aim to celebrate and encourage quality journalism while helping educate our community on the important role of the Fourth Estate.

Our members include journalists and other communications professionals from a 29-county area of Western Pennsylvania. We also cover nearby counties in Ohio and West Virginia including:

  • Ohio: Belmont, Columbiana, Jefferson, Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

  • West Virginia: Brooke, Cabell, Hancock, Marion, Marshall, Monongalia, Ohio, Preston and Wetzel counties.

We sponsor forums on current events and educational programs and present the annual Golden Quill Awards contest and ceremony, honoring the best of Western Pennsylvania journalism.

 

Olga George, Karen Carlin and Lynne Hayes-Freeland at the 58th Annual Golden Quill Awards in May 2022.

Our Mission

  • To provide a forum for the discussion of people, events and information of interest to the general public, media and related fields.

  • To act as a coordinating body for associations and corporations related to the field of the media.

  • To provide a setting, an atmosphere, and programming that are conducive to further communication among media-related professionals and interested members of the general public, and to encourage and be supportive of journalism students throughout Western Pennsylvania.

  • Programs

    Throughout the year, the Club sponsors a variety of programs bringing outstanding speakers to the membership. In the face of newsroom budget cuts, these programs provide continuing education. In addition, they offer invaluable networking opportunities.

  • Scholarships

    The Press Club awards two annual scholarships to journalism students: The Bob Fryer Memorial $5,000 Scholarship and The Press Club $2,500 Scholarship. The awards are designed to encourage outstanding undergraduate journalism students in print, broadcasting, photojournalism and multimedia.

  • Supporting the future

    The club also promotes high school journalism and media advisers. One example: Pittsburgh Black Media Federation’s successful Urban Journalism Workshop. The program aims to attract young people of color to the field of journalism, as many newsrooms fail to represent the demographic makeup of their communities. Graduates of this workshop populate newsrooms, television stations and websites all around the country.

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Our History

In spring 1991, Herb Stein of WQED-TV invited representatives from the media and the community to lunch at the HYP Club to discuss the possibility of developing a press club. The “Founding Fathers Committee” included Herb Stein, Bob Mayo, Sylvia Sachs, Jerry Vondas, Dick Macino, Dorie Bower, Ginny Frizzi, Rod Doss, James Duffy, Thom Smith and John Troan.

Several luncheon meetings later, with the aid of an attorney and a certified public accountant to guide them, The Press Club of Western Pennsylvania was established in December 1991.  Geographically the club represented the print and electronic media in 29 counties of Western Pennsylvania.

Ruth Heimbuecher, of The Pittsburgh Press, donated $10 to open a bank account.  In January 1992, a board of directors was formed.  Jerry Vondas was elected president.  Dues were set at $35 a year.  Dorie Bower was appointed executive director and instructed by Herb Stein to “keep us legal and out of debt.”

The new club offered its first program January 1992 at the HYP Club with Charles Bierbauer, CNN White House senior correspondent, as the main speaker.  It was a smashing success, and membership began to grow.