Charles Horn Award
Charles Horn Award Winners Past & Present (L to R): Michelle Ackerman (2007), Sarah Sinclair (2005), Deanna Whitmore (2008), Rebecca Bradner (2010), Diane Bobiak (2011) and Sandra Riggins (2009).
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.
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
- 2010 Rebecca Bradner, Las Vegas Review Journal
- 2011 Diane Bobiak, The Spokesman Review
