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Photo by Robert Murray via Unsplash
Arizona Professional Writers covers the entire state. We currently have three districts that host informative meetings, events, and combine resources to promote the organization and books at author festivals.
Leadership
July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028
Kathleen Osborne, President
Carol Baxter, Immediate Past President & Webmaster
Jacque Hillman, First Vice President (president elect)
Paula Winske, Second Vice President (membership)
Nancy Marshall, Secretary
Deborah Barber, Treasurer
Jaimie Buzenak, Facebook Adminstrator
Kathleen Kelly, Scholarship Director
Marie Fasano, Member at Large & Skirting Traditions Committee Chairman
OPEN Positions:
Historian, Memorials Director
PR Director
Communications Contest Chair & Co-Chair
Deborah Barber, Jacque Hillman, Nancy Marshall, Paula Winske, and Kathleen Osborne
Central District
AREA: Phoenix and Tucson Metro Areas
APW members and guests are welcome!
MEETING INFO:
Fawzia Tung, Director
Contact for info and Zoom link:
White Mountain District
Area: Show Low, Heber, Overgaard, Pine Top, Lakeside, and Snowflake
APW members and guests are welcome!
MEETING INFO:
Kathleen Osborne, APW President
Contact for info & zoom link:
Rim Country District
Area: Payson, Pine, Strawberry, Star Valley, Tonto Village, and Tonto Basin
APW members and guests are welcome!
In-person meeting info: Friends With Pens, in-person at Noley’s Bookstore in Payson, on the first Thursday of the month at 9:30 a.m.
Connie Cockrell, Director
Contact:
About ARIZONA PRESS WOMEN
(Now Arizona Professional Writers)
In 1953, female journalists were not allowed to join the Arizona Press Club. Therefore, a group of women in Northern Arizona, affiliated with the National Federation of Press Women, organized Arizona Press Women. APW received its official charter from NFPW in 1954 and marked its 50th anniversary in 2004.
In 2014, members voted to use the trade name Arizona Professional Writers. As an affiliate of NFPW, Arizona Professional Writers is a nonprofit organization of women and men who work as journalists, writers, editors, journalism teachers, photographers, broadcasters, film producers, freelancers, bloggers, Web designers, public relations specialists and other professional communicators.
Through APW, members sharpen career skills, network with top professionals, and enjoy the camaraderie of peers. Regular local, regional and statewide meetings and conferences feature speakers who are published authors or experts in other areas of professional communications.
APW and NFPW were the first organizations in the nation to sponsor an annual journalism contest for high school students. They also sponsor annual state and national contests for professional communicators.
1954: Helen Fletcher Collins
1955: Pauline Bates Brown
1956: Billie Williams Yost
1957: Mitzi Zipf
1958: Vada Carlson Rodriguez
1959: Meredith Howard Harless
1960: Thelma Bonney Hall Towle
1961: Vivian K. Shoemaker
1962: June P. Payne
1963: Aloa Richards
1964: Phyllis W. Heald
1965: Gladys Bagley Schaefer
I966: Phyllis A. Manning
1967: Ruth Engleby Ohlfest
1968: Thelma Heatwole
1969: Geraldine Paul
1970: Emily K. Lovell
1971: Patricia Myers
1972: Mary C. Brown
1973: Tanya G. Collins
1974: Patricia C. Cook
1975: Edith Moore
1976: Mary Metzger
1977: Isabel Simmons
1978: Eleanor Schultz
1979: Jacquelyn Cobbledick
1980: Helen Cornell
1981: Rosejean Hinsdale
1982: Sandal English
1983: Marguerite Bantlin
1984: Eleanor Mattausch
1985: Cheri Cross
1987: Mary Jane Shoun
1989: Lorraine B. Kingdon
1991: Barbara Lacy
1993: Carol Osman Brown
1995: Margie Meldman
1997: Pam Knight Stevenson
1999: Jane Eppinga
2001: Joan Westlake
2003: Barbara Clarihew
2005: Marion L. Peddle
2008: Cheryl Kohout
2009: Brenda Kimsey Warneka
2011: Barbara Clarihew
2012: Brenda Kimsey Warneka
2013: Pam Knight Stevenson
2016: Joan Westlake
2018-20: Marie Fasano
2020-24: Connie Cockrell
2024-26: Carol Baxter
Italics denote a member who is deceased.
Past Presidents
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