The Association for Women in Communications Santa Barbara chapter (AWC-SB) will honor climate champions Hillary Hauser and Leah Stokes at the 15th Annual AWC-SB Women of Achievement Awards presented by Women Connect4Good.
The luncheon will take place at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 27 at Cabrillo Pavilion. Beth Farnsworth, TV journalist and 2019 AWC-SB Women of Achievement award recipient, will emcee the event.
Tickets to the luncheon are available at www.awcsb.org.
This year’s honorees are leading the way in changing how people view and respond to the climate crisis. Through their storytelling, they have transformed politics and policies, inspiring hope and mobilizing communities into action for meaningful change.
Their dedication pushes the movement forward, testifying to their leadership and earning them recognition as Women of Achievement.
The awards event takes place just before the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival, which was founded in 1970 after a massive oil spill off the Santa Barbara coast drew national attention and galvanized the environmental movement.
“This is an honor that takes every one of my words away,” Hauser said. “As a longtime writer/journalist, this feels like I’ve just been awarded the Oscar of writing. I’m very humbled to be among the great women recognized by this association.”
Hauser is an accomplished diving photojournalist who co-founded the nonprofit Heal the Ocean in 1998. As executive director, she has led the organization’s success in protecting the ocean, focusing on wastewater infrastructure — sewers and septic systems — as well as ocean dumping practices that have contributed to ocean pollution.
Hauser is outspoken about climate change, and the urgent need to plan for sea level rise.
Stokes is an associate professor at UC Santa Barbara, whose work focuses on energy, climate, and environmental politics. Her recent book “Short Circuiting Policy” was named the Best Energy Book of 2020 by the American Energy Society, listed as a Top 5 climate book from 2020 by The New York Times, and won three awards from the American Political Science Association.
For her scholarship, Stokes was recently recognized on the 2022 TIME100 Next and Business Insider Climate Action 30 lists. Her academic work is published in top journals, and is widely read and cited.
She is quoted frequently in national media, has written for top outlets including The New York Times. She hosts the climate podcast “A Matter of Degrees.”
“We are in a race to address the climate crisis and keep our planet habitable,” Stokes said. “Our greatest challenge is to transform politics and policy — effectively and equitably — so that climate solutions become our default choices.
“To do so, we need powerful storytelling that invites us to give up despair, find climate community, and take meaningful action. That’s why I devote much of my career to speaking, podcasting, and writing for a popular audience, and why I’m deeply honored to be recognized by AWC-SB this year.”
Presenting the Women of Achievement Awards is one of the ways AWC-SB strives to empower women. By recognizing exemplary women communicators, the event provides role models for women who are pursuing careers in journalism, public speaking, writing, public relations, filmmaking, photography, and related disciplines.
Past honorees include Luz Reyes-Martin, former SBCC Public Affairs director and Goleta Union School Board member; KEYT journalist and Anchor Beth Farnsworth; State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson; former U.S. Rep. Lois Capps; former Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider; Marianne Partridge, Santa Barbara Independent editor-in-chief and co-founder; Carrie Hutchinson; Paula Lopez; Lynda Weinman; Catherine Remak; and Sara Miller McCune.
The 2023 Women of Achievement Luncheon is also supported by the Santa Barbara Independent, SBCC Foundation, CommUnify, Oshay Family Foundation, SoCal Edison, WEV, county of Santa Barbara, Above All Aviation. Limited additional sponsorship opportunities are available; email news@awcsb.org for more information.
Tickets cost $75 for members, $85 for non-members. After March 17, prices rise to $85 for members, $95 for non-members.
Funds raised at the event support ongoing professional development opportunities offered by AWC-SB throughout the year.
For more about AWC-SB and buy tickets to the Women of Achievement Awards, visit www.awcsb.org.
AWC-SB hosts monthly meetings for its members and guests, featuring topics that help communicators hone their skills and stay up-to-date with key developments in the technology, practice, and ethics of communications.