Orlando, FL — Judy Davis-Wilson and Debbie Little were selected as the two candidates advancing to this summer’s balloting for the Communicators Hall of Fame, as determined during the Saturday directors meeting of the United States Harness Writers Association.

Judy Davis-Wilson, from one of the leading extended families in Delaware harness racing, started out helping around the barn, then spent the next part of her racing life as a Clerk of Course and Program Director (including at the only harness meet at Canterbury) before spending several years as the stakes manager for the Hambletonian Society. She then returned to Delaware and has been the major force behind that state’s Sire Stakes program for over two decades. Judy served as treasurer and president of USHWA, and was the Association’s Member of the Year in 2013.

Debbie Little held several jobs learning the Standardbred communication ropes before earning the position of harness racing reporter for the New York Post, handicapping at several tracks while writing about both the local and the national harness scene. Debbie is now the associate editor and a regular columnist for Harness Racing Update. A Hervey Award winner, Debbie has also been president of USHWA and the USHWAn of the Year (2022), and with her placement on the ballot, she uniquely has the opportunity to join her husband Dave (a 2018 inductee) in the Communicators Hall.

Davis-Wilson and Little will go before the USHWA voters during the midsummer balloting for Communicators Hall of Fame election, as will those nominees for the sport’s Hall of Fame determined during a July meeting of USHWA’s Screening Committee, to be held in Goshen, N.Y. A nominee must get three-quarters of the yes-no votes in order to receive their grand honor. Announcements are usually made within a couple of days of the Labor Day weekend.

A summary release of the directors and membership meetings of USHWA will be sent out this midweek, after the honorees at the Dan Patch Awards banquet, presented by Caesars Entertainment, get their rightful spotlight call following the Sunday night dinner.

The United States Harness Writers Association is the leading group of communicators about the Standardbred horse. USHWA conducts the official annual balloting for the sport’s most prestigious honors: induction to the Hall of Fame and Communicators Hall of Fame, along with the selection of the Horse of the Year, Trotter and Pacer of the Year, and the leading divisional horses of each season. Each year USHWA hosts the Dan Patch Awards banquet, honoring the best and brightest performers in North American harness racing. This banquet is the Association’s principal source of funding, and with generous financial support from the harness racing and breeding industry, USHWA is able to host the banquet at a world-class facility in a world-class manner.