What does WWCOTY do?

As we enter women’s month, we look into one of the most impactful organizations that helps amplify women’s voices in the automotive industry — the Women’s Worldwide Car of the Year (WWCOTY). 

But what exactly does WWCOTY do, and how do they create a meaningful effect on the global automotive landscape? 

Let's take a quick look at the institution and the people who help make it happen. 

What is WWCOTY? 

WWCOTY is an awards group started by Sandy Myhre in 2009 that is comprised exclusively of women motoring journalists. As such, the institution aims to recognize the best cars of the year and to give a voice to women in the automotive world. 

Despite having an all-ladies crew, WWCOTY uses judging criteria based on the same principles that guide any driver when choosing a car. Per the group, jurors look at aspects such as “safety, quality, price, design, ease of driving, benefits, and environmental footprint. 

Aside from choosing the best cars of the year, it is ultimately WWCOTY’s goal to give visibility to women in the automotive world. 

On that note, the group also created the Woman of Worth (WOW) Award, which recognizes the important contributions of women in the automotive industry or women in motorsport. 

Some of the WOW Award recipients include Fiona Pargeter (2020, Jaguar Land Rover Customer Experience Director), Sabine Schmitz (2021, German professional motor racing driver and television personality also known as Queen of the Nürburgring), Simona de Silvestro (2022, Swiss-Italian racing driver), Astrid Linder (2023, Swedish researcher creator of the first female crash test dummy), and Luciana Herrman (2024, Nissan Latin America Regional Communications Director). 

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Jurors 

Now that we know what WWCOTY does and its goal as an award-giving body, let us now look at some of the people behind it. 

Honorary President​, Sandy Myhre (New Zealand) 

Myhre is a motor racing journalist and is the first woman member of the New Zealand Motoring Writers’ Guild, the first woman member, and the first President of the New Zealand Motorsport Media Association. 

Executive President, Marta Garcia (Spain) 

Garcia is one of the first female motor journalists in Spain. Her byline appears on publications like Quo Magazine, Elle Magazine, and Car and Driver. She is also involved in the radio program Dos en la Carretera. 

Among her goals is to reinforce women’s role within the motoring world. 

Other judges include the following: 

• Renuka Kirpalani (India)
• Regina Chan (Canada)
• Jil McIntosh (Canada) 
• Geraldine Herbert (Ireland)
• Alicia Ryzewsky (Argentina)
• Charleen Clarke (South Africa)
• Ylle Tampere (Estonia)
• Maggie Barry (Scotland)
• Hoa Huyen (Vietnam)
• Sara Soria (Spain)
• Guillermina Fossati (Argentina)
• Petra Mühr (Austria)
• Nicole Wakelin (USA)
• Ilaria Salzano (Italy)
• Tina Vujanovic (Serbia)
• Sabrina Parant (Belgium)
• Ayça Çizer (Turkey)
• Nina Maria Weizenecker (Germany)
• Benedicte Engel (Denmark)
• Fariha Aftab (Pakistan)
• Natalia Vergara (Colombia) 
• Aseel Al Hamad (Saudi Arabia)
• Shahinaz Hussein (Egypt)
• Monica Secondino (Italy)
• Agata Rzedowska (Poland)
• Katarzyna Dziewicka (Poland)
• Tanya Gazdik (USA)
• Jill Ciminillo (USA)
• Clara Ines Moreno de Claramunt (Panama) 
• Kristin Shaw (USA)
• Monika Marroquin (Guatemala)
• Genevieve Francine Tiu (Philippines)
• Isadora Lima Carvalho (Brazil)
• Tamara Warren (USA)
• Elana Scherr (USA)
• Marie Lizak (France)
• Eileen Falkenberg-Hull (USA) 
• Mia Litstrom (Sweden)
• Ines Jelušić (Croatia)
• Sandra Baierl (Austria)
• Christina Myrto (Greece)
• Paola Leyton (Chile)
• Liz Dobson (New Zealand)
• Sue Mead (USA)
• Ursa Prosenjak (Slovenia)
• Bahija Chraibi (Morocco)
• Amel Messaid (Algeria)
• Erzsebet Kurcz (Hungary)
• Zhao Shuang (China)
• Wei Gao (China) 
• Liyue Zhang (China)
• Maxine Ashford (United Kingdom) 
• Isabelle-Riederer (Switzerland)
• Melina Priam (France)
• Giovanna Alvarado (Peru)
• Beatriz Nunez (Costa Rica)
• Judith Hernandez (Ecuador)
• Rita Cook (USA)
• Jimena Olazar (Argentina)
• Etsuko Kusuda (Japan) 
• Sabina Kvášová (Czech Republic)
• Alix Capper Murdoch (Cyprus)
• Shereen Shabnam (Dubai)
• Liz Swanton (Australia)
• Anat Daniel (Israel) 
• Francisca Munoz Matus (Chile)
• Carla Ribeiro (Portugal)
• Isabel del Angel (Mexico)
• Odiel Mennink (Netherlands)
• Petrina Gentile (Canada)
• Besima Svraka (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Hasna Zobiri (Algeria)
• Marcella de Bie (The Netherlands)
• Carlotta Adreani (Italy) 
• Ina Georgieva (Bulgaria)
• Arancha Pato (Spain) 
• Amelia Dalgaard (USA)
• Yumi Kawata (Japan)
• Ana Gabriela Oquendo (Ecuador)
• Conny Poltersdorf (Germany)
• Mugdha Mishra (India)
• Milene Rios (Brazil) 
• Cristiana Oprea (Romania)
• Maryna Kytina (Ukraine)

Other initiatives 

Aside from giving awards to vehicles and empowering women in the motoring world, WWCOTY also has other notable initiatives. 

For example, in 2025, the organization partnered with Czech magazine Žena v autě.cz and launched an international survey about how women feel behind the wheel on roads. 

Per WWCOTY, its goal was to analyze how women drivers feel on roads, what they fear, how confident they are while driving. 

By looking at such insights, the body is able to further look into the opinions of women about driving and their habits. 

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