The History of the Dewey Award

Write On Calligraphers (WOC), founded in 1978, is an all-volunteer organization. These volunteers contribute weeks, months, and even years of their lives so that the guild can continue offering its annual conference, Letters of Joy, in addition to classes, workshops and inspiration to all of the members. There is no exaggerating to take note of the many “years of dedication”.

In 1987, Write On Calligraphers broke from tradition by naming the service award after a living person: Dewey Henderson. Dewey was one of the founders of WOC. Serving on the board for most of WOC’s history, Dewey taught classes locally and at international conferences for nearly 30 years. For many, she was our first and most formative calligraphic teacher. It is, therefore, no wonder, that WOC named its annual award “The Dewey Award”.

How WOC chooses the Award Recipient

Each year, previous recipients of the Dewey award nominate the individuals they feel deserve this honored award from the past year. Often, there are more than one deserving nominee because WOC has always drawn passionate calligraphers and artists into its creative fold. Many of these volunteer members choose to take the time to give back to WOC for nurturing them as well as many others. Several previous winners of the award have remained in service on the board and/or are contributing volunteers. WOC is indeed grateful for all of the many hard working volunteers.

Dewey Award Recipients

1990 – Dewey Henderson
1991 – Mary Danielson
1992 – Jocelyn Curry Asher
1993 – Sally Swalling
1994 – Katherine Malmsten
1995 – Henrietta Wilson
1996 – Martha Walker
1997 – Ken Davis
1998 – Geraldine McKimson
1999 – Susan Gale Welch
2000 – Patricia Thyden
2001 – Nancy Larsen
2002 – Lee Ann Clark
2003 – Sue Gruhn
2004 – Joyce Lyster
2005 – Kari Schlechten
2006 – Karen Kant
2007 – Karen Chan
2008 – Kay Lewis
2009 – Brigitte Hefferan
2010 – Cathy Shiovitz
2011 – Gayle Waddle-Wilkes
2012 – Kathy Barker
2013 – Flo Wilkins
2014 – Nan Robkin
2015 – Roxanna Augusztiny
2016 – Jennifer Klamm
2017 – Carol Rutte
2018 – No LOJ due to involvement in Seattletters sponsored by WOC
2019 – Lisa Leong-Tsang