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WHRO Public Media Honored as a 2025 Darden Award Winner

CEO and President Bert Schmidt accepts the 2025 Darden Award on behalf of WHRO Public Media.
CEO and President Bert Schmidt accepts the 2025 Darden Award on behalf of WHRO Public Media.

WHRO Public Media was selected as the corporate honoree for the 2025 Darden Awards, a prestigious honor conveyed by the Civic Leadership Institute. A few staff members enjoyed a reception celebrating the honorees at Hilton Norfolk The Main in November.

“For more than 60 years, WHRO has helped our community feel smarter and happier through the power of nonprofit media which makes them the natural next choice for the Corporate Darden Award,” said Dr. Mary Kate Andris, President and CEO, of CIVIC Leadership Institute.

About the Award
The annual Darden Awards welcomes over 550 regional executives and community leaders to celebrate the honorees’ contributions to regional leadership. Established in 2005, the Darden Award for Regional Leadership is named for CIVIC Leadership Institute’s Founder Emeritus, the late Joshua P. Darden Jr.

Each year an individual and a corporation from the Hampton Roads region is selected to receive the award. Those honored have delivered extraordinary service on boards, commissions and as community volunteers. They worked to create sustainable efforts toward the betterment of life for the people of the Hampton Roads Region and demonstrate exceptional leadership in the pursuit of regional cooperation.


View all of the awards that WHRO won in 2025 at whro.org/awards.