District 1 Zonta Women in Business Leadership Chair:
Patricia Pupek, Zonta Club of Quaboag Valley USA
The 2027 Zonta Women in Business Leadership Award is now available!
The award celebrates excellence and recognizes outstanding achievements by women between 18-35 years of age who are driving innovation and creating an impact in the business world. This prestigious award honors exceptional leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, ethical conduct and significant contributions while addressing global or local issues affecting women and girls or climate justice. Links to all the forms are below and at the Zonta International website.
EXCITING NEWS: At the 2026 Zonta International Convention in Vancouver, delegates voted to ELIMINATE THE AGE REQUIREMENT (18-35) and make this an ANNUAL award – effective the 2nd year of the biennium.
EFFECTIVE FOR 2027, the new criteria: Women undergraduate to master’s degree students who demonstrate evidence of the following, are eligible to apply for the in Business Leadership Award:
- Exceptional leadership in a business-related field of study or industry.The Zonta Women in Business Leadership Award celebrates excellence and recognizes outstanding achievements by women between 18-35 years of age who are driving innovation and creating an impact in the business world. This prestigious award honors exceptional leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, ethical conduct and significant contributions while addressing global or local issues affecting women and girls or climate justice.
- Entrepreneurial spirit.
- Ethical conduct.
- Significant contributions to addressing global or local issues affecting women and girls or climate justice.
Each club is encouraged to solicit applications, offer a club award if possible (not required), and name a club Women in Business winner. Clubs then forward their winners to the District Chair – and a District winner is selected and forwarded to the Foundation for Women to compete for one of 10 $5,000 cash awards from the Zonta Foundation for Women.
Clubs determine their own deadlines for submission of these applications based on decisions by the District Award Committee. Zonta International must have the District winner submitted no later than January.
All information and supporting documents for the Zonta Women in Business Leadership award can be found at zonta.org under Our Programs/Education.
2027 Understanding the Women in Business Leadership Award
The 2027 Women in Business Leadership Award is now available. The Zonta Women in Business Leadership Award celebrates excellence and recognizes outstanding achievements by women between 18-35 years of age who are driving innovation and creating an impact in the business world. This prestigious award honors exceptional leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, ethical conduct and significant contributions while addressing global or local issues affecting women and girls or climate justice. The program operates at the Zonta club, district and international levels. Zonta International offers 10 international awards of US$5,000 each and a complimentary one-year supporting membership in Zonta International for the next financial year. Timetable: Clubs determine their own timelines for receipt of applications. Club recipient is selected and application is sent to governor by 30 November 2026 or date set by Chair. The district applicant selected and application received by Zonta International Headquarters by 2 January 2027. The official announcement of […]
2025 Women in Business Award
Casey McDermott from District 1 was one of the 10 exceptional applicants selected for a 2025 Zonta Women in Business Leadership International Award. Thirty–five (35) exceptional applicants from 26 countries were considered in the selection for the 10 international awards. The recipients will receive a complimentary one-year supporting membership in Zonta International starting in the next fiscal year (1 June 2026) and US $10,000 award. A biographical description of each recipient will be posted on the Zonta International website by the end of January 2026. Casey McDermott was the applicant from the Quaboag Club selected by the District 1 WBLA evaluation committee to have her application/materials submitted to ZI. This is exciting for our District as it represents what collaboration and communication between District 1 Clubs can result in. Casey is from Nova Scotia and at the request of the Amherst Club, an ask was made of District 1 Clubs […]