Association for Women in Sports Media

What Association for Women in Sports Media does

The Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional membership organization founded in 1987 by Nancy Cooney, Susan Fornoff, Michele Himmelberg, and Kristin Huckshorn to support the advancement of women in sports media. AWSM is volunteer-managed and headquartered at a mailing address in Lewisville, Texas, with a community of more than 1,000 women and men members, primarily sports media professionals and students aspiring to careers in the industry. The organization operates as a single integrated membership platform rather than a product-and-modules architecture, with no proprietary technology stack described; its digital presence is anchored by awsmonline.org, an email newsletter, Twitter/X accounts, and a members-only job board.

Name

Association for Women in Sports Media

Legal name

Association for Women in Sports Media

Website

https://awsmonline.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

AWSM is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1987 that supports women in sports media through memberships, paid internships, scholarships, mentoring, regional events, and an annual convention serving 1,000+ professionals and students.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Association / Nonprofit Membership Organization

NAICS

Business Associations (813910), Professional Organizations (81392), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Executive Summits & Invitation-Only Forums (MPAGAGAK)

Keywords

• Sports media advocacy
• Professional membership association
• Journalism mentorship programs
• Women in sports media
• Internship scholarship programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Lewisville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership dues: AWSM generates revenue through annual and multi-year professional and student membership dues. Professional memberships are priced at $60/year or $150/3-year; student memberships are $30/year. These fees support the organization's programming, scholarships, and regional events.
2. Donations and grants: AWSM accepts tax-deductible donations from individuals and corporations. The organization runs a 501(c)(3) and encourages monthly contributions ($10/month suggested), one-time gifts, and corporate matching programs. Sponsors also fund conference grants and scholarship endowments.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

AWSM is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional association that provides paid summer internships and scholarships for female college students, a yearlong mentorship program (AWSM Champions), an annual convention and regional events, student chapters at universities, a members-only job board, and industry advocacy. Memberships are sold annually to professionals ($60/year) and students ($30/year), with multi-year and discounted promotional rates available.

Product overview

AWSM is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional membership organization founded in 1987 to support women in sports media. The organization operates as a single unified offering rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. Its core services include a membership program providing networking and professional development access, an annual convention, awards programs (Mary Garber Pioneer Award and Ann Miller Service Award), an internships and scholarships program, student chapters at 17 universities, and the AWSM Champions mentoring program. AWSM also provides a members-only job board as a benefit. The organization connects over 1,000 women and men professionals and students through advocacy, mentorship, and career-enhancement initiatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Professional and Student Membership Program Annual and multi-year membership program for individual sports media professionals ($60/year or $150/3-year) and students ($30/year), providing access to the members-only job board, AWSM Champions mentorship, regional and national events, newsletters, and convention discounts.
• Annual AWSM Convention Annual national conference featuring workshops, panels, networking, and award ceremonies. The 2026 convention will be held in Los Angeles from August 9–11, with member and non-member registration tiers.
• AWSM Awards Program Annual recognition program including the Mary Garber Pioneer Award (honoring industry trailblazers) and the Ann Miller Service Award (recognizing organizational contributors).
• Internships & Scholarships Program Places female college students in paid summer internships with sports media employers (ESPN, MLB, LA Times, Fox Sports, Houston Chronicle, Perfect Game, USA Today Sports, etc.) and provides $1,250 scholarships to awardees. More than 200 students have been placed since 1990.
• AWSM Student Chapters Campus-based student groups at 17–24 U.S. universities providing networking, mentorship, and professional development for aspiring sports media professionals.
• AWSM Champions Mentoring Program

Quantifiable outcome

• More than 200 female college students placed in paid summer internships since 1990
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Sports Journalism InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026The Sports Journalism Institute (SJI) has an ongoing partnership with AWSM to support the scholarship program. SJI's mission is to increase diversity in sports journalism and has trained more than 350 minority student journalists. AWSM thanks SJI for their continued partnership, and SJI is credited alongside AWSM in endorsing scholarships and supporting diverse talent pipelines.
• Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass CommunicationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is the co-sponsor of the 2026 AWSM convention in Los Angeles. Workshops will be hosted at the ASU California Center Broadway (historic Herald Examiner Building) in downtown Los Angeles. Paola Boivin, a professor at ASU's Cronkite School, was named the 2026 Mary Garber Pioneer Award winner.
• Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026APSE endows the Mary Garber/APSE Scholarship as part of the AWSM Scholar program. APSE is a key industry partner supporting AWSM's scholarship and internship pipeline for diverse sports journalism talent.
• ESPNcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026ESPN is AWSM's longest-standing internship host employer and has sponsored AWSM conventions for 11+ consecutive years. ESPN regularly hosts AWSM Scholar interns and its representatives participate in panels and workshops at AWSM conventions.
• Major League Baseball (MLB)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026MLB.com has been a recurring internship host for AWSM Scholars. MLB sponsors AWSM conventions and provides paid summer internship placements for female college students interested in sports media careers.
• Los Angeles SparksminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026AWSM's 2026 convention opening event includes a guest attendance opportunity at the Sparks vs. Valkyries WNBA game at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026. The Sparks are listed as a convention co-host partner for this event.
• Los Angeles DodgersminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026AWSM's 2026 convention includes attendance at the Dodgers vs. Royals game at Dodger Stadium on Monday, Aug. 10. The Dodgers are a convention co-host partner for this off-site event.
• Untamed Spirits (women's sports bar)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026AWSM will host its closing party at Untamed Spirits women's sports bar in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. This is a networking and social event as part of the AWSM convention program.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA): AAJA is a similarly structured diversity-in-journalism professional association offering student scholarships, convention programming, and award programs. It serves a parallel mission to AWSM in diversifying newsrooms and competes for overlapping employer partnerships and student recruitment.
• Women in Sports and Events (WISE): WISE is a professional membership organization dedicated to advancing women in the sports and events industry, with chapters, networking events, mentoring, and a leadership summit. It overlaps AWSM's mission and target audience, particularly around sports business roles adjacent to sports media.
• National Association of Black Journalists: NABJ is a large professional association for journalists of color with a parallel structure of scholarships, student chapters, conventions, and awards. While broader than sports media, NABJ competes for the same diversity-in-journalism narrative, sponsors, and emerging talent pool that AWSM serves.
• Association for Women in Communications: AWC is a professional association focused on advancing women across all communications fields with a comparable membership, scholarship, and recognition model. It represents the broader 'women in communications' category that overlaps with AWSM's women-in-sports-media niche.
• Sports Journalism Institute: SJI operates the most directly comparable program to AWSM's scholarship/internship pipeline, training minority student journalists for sports media careers. SJI is an explicit AWSM partner and the two share the Mary Garber/APSE endowed scholarship, making them mission-aligned peers serving the same talent pipeline.
• National Association of Hispanic Journalists: NAHJ is a peer diversity-in-journalism association with scholarships, student chapters, a national convention, and award programs. It addresses the same structural challenge as AWSM (underrepresentation in journalism) and competes for similar student and professional member segments.

Broad incumbents

• International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF): IWMF is a global nonprofit supporting women journalists worldwide through grants, fellowships, and safety training. It is a broader incumbent in the women-in-media space with a global footprint and established fellowship programs analogous to AWSM's scholarships.
• Society of Professional Journalists: SPJ is the largest broad-based journalism professional association in the U.S., with student chapters, awards, and conventions spanning all media disciplines. It represents the incumbent professional association model that AWSM's sports-media-specific structure is differentiated against.

Emerging players

• Women's Media Center: The Women's Media Center is a nonprofit organization working to increase women's representation in media through reporting, training, and research. It addresses the same underrepresented-in-media challenge as AWSM, with some overlap in sports media coverage and training programming.
• Women's Sports Foundation: Founded by Billie Jean King, the Women's Sports Foundation is a leading advocacy and grantmaking nonprofit for women in sports broadly. While its primary mission is athlete advancement, it increasingly intersects with AWSM's media-representation work through visibility grants and storytelling initiatives.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/awsm_sportmedia
• Facebookfacebook.com/awsmonline
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/association-for-women-in-sports-media-awsm

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Association for Women in Sports Media