Mission: The Association for Women in Communications is a professional organization that champions the advancement of women across all communications disciplines by recognizing excellence, promoting leadership and positioning its members at the forefront of the evolving communications era.

Goals: The founding principles of Theta Sigma Phi serve as touchstones for AWC today: to promote the advancement of women in all fields of communications, to work for First Amendment rights and responsibilities of communicators, to recognize distinguished professional achievements, and to promote high professional standards throughout the communications field.

Ethical Values: AWC is committed to work nationally and internationally for pay equity for women in the communications workplace and for freedom of information.

Commitment to Education: The Matrix Foundation, AWC’s charitable foundation, provides scholarships and supports educational research and publications. AWC’s 100-plus student and professional chapters offer educational programming for their members. The Annual Professional Conference provides a forum for learning opportunities and interaction with communications leaders.

Leadership Development: Through its local chapter programs and sessions at the AWC annual National Conference, and online business courses, AWC provides members with the opportunity for training in leadership skills.

Recognitions of Excellence: AWC has a long tradition of recognizing outstanding communicators.

• The Clarion Awards is an international competition with awards in more than 130 categories. The International Crystal Clarion Award honors the individual or organization with the most winning entries in a single competition year.
• The International Matrix Award recognizes exemplary communicators; winners include: Jane Pauley, Ellen Goodman, Diane Rehm, and Gloria Brown Anderson.
• The Headliner Award is bestowed on a member for recent national accomplishments. Among the winners in the 62-year history of the award are: Gail Sheehy, Helen Thomas, Barbara Walters and Heloise.

  These awards are presented at a special awards ceremony at the AWC annual National Conference each year.

Member Profile: AWC has more than 3,000 active members, ranging in age from 18 through 90-plus. The average age is 41; most members are females from urban or suburban settings. Response from the AWC member survey indicates 94% are college graduates, 47% hold graduate study or degrees; just over half work in for-profit businesses and most work in companies with fewer than 100 employees; most are salaried, full-time employees; approximately 40% are in the executive or management roles. Of those who responded, roughly half work in public relations, marketing or communications management; the others work in fields including journalism, graphic design, photography, Web development, and publishing.