Sacred Cat Award

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.

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.

HONORS

Sacred Cat Award