Post's Petula Dvorak to receive Order of the Owl at 'Fall Hoot,' noon Saturday

The Silver Owls of the National Press Club will confer the Order of the Owl on Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak at the Owls' Fall Hoot noon Saturday at the club.

The award is given on an occasional basis to journalists "who give a hoot about Washington journalism." Among others who have received it are satirist Mark Russell, humor columnist Art Buchwald, TV curmudgeon Andy Rooney, pianist John Eaton, the Kiplinger Report's Austin Kiplinger and the Club's own John Cosgrove, 95, the oldest living past NPC president.

The event features a cash bar, followed by a sit-down lunch featuring the Owls' favorite of roast beef with the trimmings, or a vegetarian dish if you prefer. The cost is $35.

Dvorak will speak following lunch.

The Fall Owls 'Hoot' is open to all members of the National Press Club and their guests. The Owls is an organization of senior members of the Club, including Silver Owls (25 years of membership),Golden Owls (50 years) and Platinum Owls (60 years).

To register, click here. For questions about your registration, contact at 202-662-7501 or [email protected].

Dvorak is a reporter who has covered crime and punishment stories and, as she describes it, "the disconcerting back stories of the people, families and communities that show up on police blotters." As a columnist at the Post, she has lately defended the people of Washington against critics who have been unfairly trashing the city because of the antics of members of Congress, who are foreigners sent here by voters in the hinterlands.

Dvorak is the mother of two little boys and lives with her husband, also a journalist, in Washington D.C.