The North Dakota Living team, from left, Senior Graphic Designers Liza Kessel and John Kary, Editor Cally Peterson, Advertising Sales Manager Duane Crabbe and Writer/Photographer Kennedy DeLap, took home the nation’s top award for electric cooperative magazines for the first time in 20 years.
North Dakota Living has been named the 2025 George W. Haggard Memorial Journalism Award winner by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). The national award recognizes the top statewide magazine in the electric cooperative network for overall quality and for supporting the national objectives of electric co-ops.
This is North Dakota Living’s 13th Haggard Award and the first for Cally Peterson, who has been editor since 2019.
North Dakota Living is the statewide magazine for North Dakota’s electric cooperatives and is published by the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives.
“We were so excited to receive the news the 2025 Haggard Award was coming home to North Dakota for the first time in 20 years,” Peterson says. “The team, along with our local cooperatives and co-op communicators, pours so much into this publication each month, so getting recognized for that important work feels really good.”
One contest judge called North Dakota Living “truly the gold standard in locally produced electric cooperative journalism. From an interview with the newly minted governor to a series of articles on the challenges co-ops face in providing reliable and affordable power, this publication has something for everyone and keeps member-owners informed on major issues impacting our industry.”
Stephen Bell, NRECA senior vice president of communications, noted “reliable” and “trusted” were the top words used by readers to describe the publication in a recent readership survey.
“That reputation helps North Dakota’s cooperatives across the board and has led to North Dakota Living being one of the standard-bearers of co-op magazines,” Bell says.
Peterson accepted the award at a March 7 reception in Nashville, Tenn., held in conjunction with NRECA’s annual meeting.
“I tell people I have the best job in North Dakota. I get to tell stories about North Dakotans, about rural people and rural places, about co-ops and co-op people,” Peterson said in her acceptance speech.
She closed her remarks by sharing the story of a Vietnam War veteran she met on an Honor Flight last year named Denny McKechnie, whose story was featured in the November 2025 issue of North Dakota Living. After learning McKechnie’s “biggest regret” from his service was not writing a letter to the family of his “best friend,” Robert Denmark, who died in Vietnam, Peterson searched for the Denmark family in hopes of sharing McKechnie’s story with them.
In November, she found Robert’s brother, William, who is also a Vietnam War veteran, and shared McKechnie’s story with him. Just before Christmas, William and McKechnie met in person for the first time.
“I truly believe Robert orchestrated all of this from heaven,” Peterson says. “And Denny’s story, that’s why I say I have the best job in North Dakota.”
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NRECA Digital Reporter Erin Kelly contributed to this story.
