Candace Brekke and Jessica Ackerman of Minot received awards in the North Dakota Professional Communicators’ 2025 Communications Contest and were recognized at the group’s state conference in Minot May 9.

NDPC members from North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota earned awards for their work in writing, editing, photography, graphics and design, advertising, web and social media, video, communication programs and campaigns, public relations, information for the media and speeches.

Brekke earned first place awards in the categories of advertising poster, billboard or banner​; web copy; and single advertisement. She received second place awards in advertising poster, billboard or banner​; social media campaign, corporate or for-profit; single photograph, general photo​; and social media presence, corporate or for-profit​. She received a third place award in website, corporate or for-profit​, and an honorable mention in photo essay.

First-place entries go on to the National Federation of Press Women competition, with winners announced at the national conference in Colorado in September.

Brekke and Ackerman also combined on a project to place second in the category of website edited or managed by entrant, corporate or for-profit.

Amanda Kosior, Grand Forks, received the NDPC Communicator of Achievement award for her more than 25 years of experience in communications and marketing. Kosior is a board member and marketing director at JLG Architects. Kosior is also the founder of the popular NorthDakotaNice.com

​Communicator of Achievement is the highest honor NDPC bestows upon one of its members. Kosior now advances to the national Communicator of Achievement competition at the NFPW conference.

NDPC is the state affiliate of NFPW, an organization of communication professionals from across the United States. NFPW and NDPC include women and men employed in all aspects of communication, including newspapers, public relations, education, magazines, television, radio, publishing, advertising, photography and freelance.