Charles Horn Award

Charles Horn Award

The History

In 1960, WCAA established an award to recognize outstanding contributions to classified advertising. Only active WCAA member classified managers and directors were eligible for award nomination. The award was not necessarily granted annually, but rather only when an exceptional recipient was identified by the nomination committee. There have been only 29 honorees in the past 48 years.

At that time, two men were considered outstanding among WCAA membership: Mr. Worth Wright, CAM at the San Diego Union Tribune, and Mr. Charles Horn, CAM of the Los Angeles Examiner were the two nominees. The 1960 award winner was Worth Wright. The following year Charles Horn was promoted to Advertising Director of his newspaper, and so under the award guidelines, was no longer eligible for nomination. Upon Charles Horn’s death in 1974, WCAA leaders proposed that the award be named in his honor. So although he never actually received the award, his legacy is honored by WCAA through each presentation of the Charles W. Horn Memorial Award.

The Present

In 2007, to acknowledge the transformation of roles in classified advertising, the guidelines of the Charles Horn award eligibility were revised in two ways. First, it was decided that any active WCAA newspaper member who has responsibilities in classified advertising is eligible to receive the award. The nominee does not have to strictly be a CAM or CAD. Secondly, nominations will be actively solicited from the entire WCAA membership.

Pictured: Past Charles Horn Award recipients surround Sandra Riggins, this year’s recipient,

from left Sarah Sinclair (2005), Deanna Whitmore (2008), Sandra Riggins (2009), Michelle Ackerman (2007),

Delores Palmquist, for husband Jay (1993) and Ron Beach (1987).

Recipients of the Charles W. Horn Memorial Award

1960 Worth Wright, San Diego Union/Tribune

1962 Morton J.A. McDonal, Oakland Tribune

1963 Ralph Rosenburg, Tacoma News Tribune

1964 Har Henry, San Jose Mercury News

1966 Max Taylor, Portland Oregonian/Journal

1967 Clarence Diffenderfer, Stockton Record

1968 Charles B. Eastwood, Santa Monica Outlook

1970 Cal Tremblay, Torrance Daily Breeze

1973 Carl R. Lehman, San Rafael Independent Journal

1974 John B. Trover, Spokane Spokesman Review/Chronicle

1976 Howard Currie, Phoenix Republic/Gazette

1977 Jim Gardiner, Vancouver B.C. Sun

1979 Margaret Buschini, San Mateo Times

1980 George Sherrod, Tacoma News Tribune

1981 Damian Melanson, Sacramento Union

1983 Lee Bollinger, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

1984 Cliff Hansen, Salt Lake City Tribune/Deseret News

1985 Ray Bisso, Long Beach Press-Telegram

1987 Ron Beach, San Jose Mercury News

1990 John Leonard, Santa Barbara News-Press

1993 Jay Palmquist, San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner

1995 Larry Kline, Los Angeles Times

1998 Bill Cunningham, Antelope Valley Press

2000 Gayle Timmerman, The Oregonian

2001 Randa Todd, Las Vegas Review-Journal

2002 Sally Kortekaas, The Herald

2005 Sarah Sinclair, Santa Barbara News-Press

2007 Michelle Ackerman, Denver Newspaper Agency

2008 Deanna Whitmore, The Modesto Bee

2009 Sandra Riggins, Tucson Newspapers