The Sacred Cat Award is named after the club mascot Anubis, the mummified cat, and recognizes excellence in journalism at the national level. It is presented each spring at the Gridiron banquet, which also honors winners of the club's Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism competition and a Headliner award winner. The Sacred Cat award has been given annually since 1973, with broadcast journalist Peter Arnett receiving the inaugural award and some of the country's greatest journalists and media leaders receiving it since then. The Press Club's board of governors and the Gridiron Committee collaborate in the selection of a Sacred Cat.

Honorees

• 1973 - Peter Arnett
• 1974 - Helen Thomas
• 1975 - Walter Cronkite
• 1976 - Nicholas von Hoffman
• 1977 - Irv Kupcinet
• 1978 - Louis Rukeyser
• 1979 - Reuven Frank
• 1980 - Tom Snyder
• 1981 - Malcolm Forbes
• 1982 - Max Robinson
• 1983 - Linda Ellerbee
• 1984 - 60 Minutes
• 1985 - Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert
• 1986 - Tom Wicker
• 1987 - Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil
• 1988 - Ted Turner
• 1989 - George N. Gillett
• 1990 - Maria Jimena Duzan
• 1991 - Art Buchwald
• 1992 - Lynn Sherr
• 1993 - Judy Woodruff
• 1994 - Mark Russell
• 1995 - Fred Graham
• 1996 - Bob Vito
• 1997 - Michael Bloomberg
• 1998 - Matt Lauer
• 1999 - Michael Isikoff
• 2000 - David Protess and his Northwestern investigative reporting students
• 2001 - David Maraniss
• 2002 - Paul Gigot
• 2003 - Brooke Gladstone
• 2004 - Jim Miklaszewski
• 2005 - William L. Allen
• 2006 - Aaron Brown
• 2007 - Milton Coleman
• 2008 - Kimberly Dozier
• 2009 - Frank Deford
• 2010 - Leonard Pitts Jr.
• 2011 - Bill Kurtis