Penelope Koechl Set For WGA East’s Jablow Award For Devoted Service

Penelope Koechl will be this year’s recipient of the WGA East’s Richard B. Jablow Award for Devoted Service to the Guild. The honorary award will be presented at the 75th annual Writers Guild Awards ceremony at New York’s Edison Ballroom on March 5.

Koechl, who served five terms on the guild’s Council, is currently a member of the Trustee Review and Appointment Committee and chairperson of the Election Committee. After joining the guild in 1986, she served as a member of the 1988 Strike Committee, the 2001 Negotiating Committee and an alternate on the 2007 Negotiating Committee. A longtime writer for the CBS daytime dramas As the World Turns and The Guiding Light, she won two WGA Awards and a Daytime Emmy.

“My friend and colleague Penelope Koechl has always been, and continues to be, an inspiring presence at the Guild,” said WGA East President Michael Winship. “We are grateful for her time and hard work, not to mention the creativity and skill she has contributed to make our union stronger. At this, our 75th annual Writers Guild Awards, she is an ideal recipient of our Jablow Award. She has our warmest thanks and appreciation.”

The award is named after the guild’s first counsel who helped found the guild and authored its constitution. It will be presented to Koechl by its most recipient, Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, the guild’s VP Film/Television/Streaming. Past honorees include Claire Labine, Herb Sargent, Ernest Kinoy, Stephen Schiff, James Schamus, Warren Leight, Chris Albers, Courtney Simon and Tom Fontana.