Emily Schilling is editor of Electric Consumer, Indiana’s electric cooperative publication.

In her position, she coordinates all aspects of production of the monthly newspaper. Other responsibilities include project management, writing, editing, design, and speechwriting. She writes a monthly Electric Consumer column, “That Reminds Me.”  Schilling has edited Electric Consumer since 1985. Prior to that, she was the publication’s managing editor. She was hired by Indiana Statewide Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives, publisher of Electric Consumer, in December 1983 to write a history book about the rural electric cooperative movement in Indiana. Her book, “Power to the People,”  was published in 1985.

Before coming to Indiana Statewide, Schilling was wire editor at The Daily Ledger in Noblesville, Ind., and feature writer for The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne, Ind. While at The News-Sentinel, Schilling and the rest of the newspaper staff received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Local News Reporting. Electric Consumer has received numerous awards for excellence in writing and publications from Cooperative Communicators Association, Council of Rural Electric Communicators and National Electric Cooperatives Statewide Editors Association. It received the George W. Haggard Memorial Journalism Award, a national award from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. The Haggard Award is the highest honor the electric cooperative industry can bestow upon a statewide rural electric publication. The Council of Rural Electric Cooperatives named Electric Consumer the best electric cooperative newspaper/magazine in 1991, 1994, 1995 and 1997. The publication received a  1993 CASPER Award for Sustained Coverage of Human Services from the Community Service Council of Central Indiana. The 1999 Cooperative Calendar of Student Art Contest, a project conceived and coordinated by Electric Consumer staff, received the national Building for the Future Award from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Community Service Network.

Schilling’s feature writing skills were honored with a Silver Quill award from the International Association of Business Communicators. In 1984, she was among the first group to be designated a Certified Rural Electric Communicator (now Certified Cooperative Communicator). The Cooperative Communicators Association recognized her as an outstanding young cooperative communicator in 1990 by presenting her with its Michael Graznak Award. Active in the Women’s International Network of Utility Professionals, she received two of the organization’s most coveted awards: the POWER Award for a promising up-and-coming member, and the Member of the Year Award. She served as international president of WiNUP in 1999 and currently serves as an international board member. Schilling is featured in “Who’s Who in America” and “Who’s Who of American Women.”  The Society of Professional Journalists  named her Ball State University’s Outstanding Graduate in Journalism in 1981.

Schilling resides in Zionsville, Ind., with husband Mark and daughter Erika.

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