Diane English, '70, creator of the Emmy Award-winning series Murphy Brown, received the Writers Guild of America West’s 2011 Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television, honoring lifetime achievement for outstanding television writing, at the 2011 Writers Guild Awards West Coast ceremony held February 5 in Hollywood.

English graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English secondary education and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 1994. Named after one of the most influential writers in entertainment history, the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television is the WGAW's highest award for television writing, given to writers who have advanced the literature of television throughout the years and made outstanding contributions to the profession of the television writer.

A WGAW member since 1977, multiple award-winning, writer-producer English is best known for creating, writing, and producing the groundbreaking comedy Murphy Brown which ran for 10 high-rated seasons on CBS. Murphy Brown earned English four WGA nominations as well as two Writers Guild Awards.

English has also been the recipient of numerous individual honors, including three Emmy Awards for her work on Murphy Brown. She was named one of the "50 Greatest Women in Radio & Television" by the American Women in Radio & Television.