Communicator of Achievement

The Communicator of Achievement Award (COA) is the highest honor bestowed on members who have distinguished themselves within and beyond their profession.

Nominations are solicited from NPW members, with selection made by past COA winners who are current members. NPW may then enter its winner into national competition. Criteria include exceptional professional achievement, community service, and service to NPW and NFPW, with overall impact being a major consideration.

Sherry Thompson, Omaha

Sherry Thompson of Omaha was named the 2025 Nebraska Communicator of Achievement (COA) at the fall statewide meeting of Nebraska Press Women (NPW), held in Red Cloud.

Thompson has won state and national writing and editing awards for work done in her jobs for Saving Grace Perishable Food Rescue, the Women’s Fund of Omaha and for various Union Pacific communications projects.

A longtime member of NPW, Thompson has served as president, vice president and treasurer. More recently, as high school contest director the past seven years, Thompson tripled the number of entries, topping out at 369, and more than doubled the number of Nebraska entries that won national recognition.

She also coordinated the Omaha portion of the National Federation of Press Women conference held in Omaha and Council Bluffs, and organized recent NPW conferences held in the Omaha area. This year, she led the push for a new NPW website, which will go live this month.

Thompson’s community activities include being the immediate past president of the Salvation Army Omaha Women’s Auxiliary and coordinating its annual fundraiser which this year raised $150,000. She has also served on the Omaha Women’s Fund Board of Directors and will be the 2026 marketing chair for the Heartland Women’s Network.

 In addition to serving on numerous boards in Omaha and the state, she recently was selected to serve on the Missouri Western State University Foundation Board.

“Sherry Thompson’s organizational skills are beyond compare: she has a spreadsheet for everything, and she knows how to use it,” quipped her nominator, Ruth Brown, University of Nebraska –Lincoln professor emeritus. “Sherry is quietly competent and humble, letting her achievements speak for themselves.”