2012 Communicator of Achievement Ellen Crawford

Ellen Crawford, writer and editor for North Dakota State University’s Agriculture Communication Department, received the Communicator of Achievement Award, the highest honor bestowed by the North Dakota Professional Communicators, at the organization’s recent spring conference in Bismarck. The award recognizes professional achievement, community involvement and service to the organization.

Crawford will represent North Dakota as its Communicator of Achievement nominee at the National Federation of Press Women Communication Conference Sept. 20-22 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Crawford’s interest in writing sparked at an early age. She wrote short-fiction stories in grade school, for her high school newspaper and yearbook as a teenager and for her college newspaper and yearbooks before launching a more than 26-year career as a newspaper reporter, copy editor and page designer for The Forum. During her Forum career, Crawford covered school, government and court beats and chronicled stories ranging from a centennial wagon train to the wrath of Mother Nature during Fargo’s historic floods. 

In 2004, Crawford joined NDSU’s Agriculture Communication team. Her responsibilities include editing Extension publications and writing media releases about agriculture, food safety and human health and nutrition. She took the lead in disseminating Extension’s flood preparation and recovery information last year.

Crawford served as NDPC president for two years and as treasurer since 1999. She has also been an active NFPW member, being elected as treasurer in 2011 and serving on the President’s Advisory Board, Nominating Committee and Education Fund Board over the years. Crawford is likewise a United Way, veterans service and community flood-fighting volunteer.

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