Complex sentence: She left Detroit for New York City in 1971, where she emerged as one of the nation's top illustrators and in 1975 she was awarded a gold medal for editorial illustration from the Society of Illustrators in New York.
Split into simpler sentences: She left Detroit for New York City in 1971, where she emerged as one of the nation's top illustrators. In 1975 she was awarded a gold medal for editorial illustration from the Society of Illustrators in New York.