Santa Barbara publisher and journalist Bonnie Carroll was presented with a 2022 Association for Women in Communications Clarion Award at the October AWC National Conference in Kansas, Missouri.
Carroll was honored along with some 50 other national award recipients including the International Matrix winner Tara Gatewood, and International Crystal Award winner Wolters Kluter. The awards are judged by a panel of seven AWC judges from around the country.
Carroll’s Life Bites News’ work as editor of a nonprofit, online-print newspaper or newsletter “Successful Aging” won a 2022 Clarion Award that was presented to her by Anita K. Parran, AWC National chair.
“It is such an honor to have this outstanding panel of judges view my work and honor me with a Clarion Award. I am so incredibly grateful,” Carroll said.
In 2019, Carolyn Jabs, AWC Santa Barbara’s past president presented Carroll, publisher of Bonnie Carroll’s Life Bites News, with the Member of the Year Award during the group’s December Holiday Celebration.
“Bonnie is an exceptional communicator who spontaneously uses her skills on behalf of our organization,” Jabs said. “A consummate professional, she takes advantage of new technologies to tell the stories of places and people that capture her attention.”
Under the banner of her monthly award-winning online lifestyle magazine, Carroll has also produced her own radio show. She contributes to national and international travel and lifestyle publications, as well as local publications, including Food & Beverage International Magazine, Santa Barbara Daily Sound, Food & Home Magazine, SB Seasons Magazine, Noozhawk.com, and Edhat.com, as well as doing radio/TV appearances.
Carroll often serves as a judge at prestigious food festivals and was the coordinator of the first Basil Festival in Malibu, St. Pat’s Parade, and original Coffee Festival in Beverly Hills.
As an appointed member of the LAOOC public relations commission and owner of BCPR, a boutique public relations firm, she was selected to co-manage the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee’s press operations at Pepperdine University and traveled with the Gold Medalists on a historic tour following the Olympics.
Carroll has produced award-winning events for groups in Malibu, Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, and was on the executive board of the Malibu Chamber of Commerce, chairing the Malibu Ambassadors group. She promotes restaurants and chefs, and aids local organizations with their publicity needs including Santa Barbara/Puerto Vallarta Sister City Committee.
As a photojournalist, Carroll has published stories of her travel adventures around the world and hopes to cruise Antarctica, as well as go air ballooning over Turkey. Her first children’s book was published in 2002.
Carroll works and lives in Santa Barbara, is the mother of four, grandmother of three and great grandmother of two, many of whom have collaborated with her over the years or provided inspiration for past and current endeavors and travels.
The Association for Women in Communications empowers women with the support and tools for elevating a career and becoming an agent of change in the industry. For Santa Barbara membership information visit www.awcsb.org.