She joins Trish Marr and Daphne Hynes, who have both won the award in the past.
"We have played together for the last three years so its good to join them by winning the award," Crawford said.
The bowler of the year award for both men and women is won by the bowler gaining most points in championship events organised by Bowls Dunedin.
The men's winner was New Zealand representative Shaun Scott (North East Valley).
It has been a successful 12 months for Crawford who was also named the Westpac Stadium bowler of the year, for both men and women, for indoor big bowls last winter.
Crawford won the award for winning three centre titles - champion of champions pairs and triples and the open triples.
She was also runner-up in the open pairs and reached the semifinals of the mixed pairs with her partner, Bob Crawford.
She won the award with 24 points and was followed by Daphne Hynes (22) and Trish Marr (18).
Crawford (nee Webster) has been playing outdoor bowls since 1982 and has won 14 Bowls Dunedin titles.
She started small bowls as a 13-year-old Queens High School pupil in 1974, and won 15 titles in the indoor game.
Indoor bowls was the favorite game of her parents, Pearl and Harley Webster, and the family joined them in the sport.
"Bowls is in the blood," Crawford said.
"It's a good social game, and you meet a lot of nice people."
Pearl Webster, her mother, has won six Otago Indoor Bowls Association titles.
Her brothers have also been successful in the indoor game with Harley jun winning 10 and Ray 12.
Crawford started outdoor bowls in 1982, and achieved her first major success when she won four centre titles in the 1989-90 season.
The only bowlers ahead of her are Gaynor Reid with 24 titles, Doreen Bell 21 and Doreen Richards 16. Scott (44), who grew up in Bannockburn, was a bridesmaid in major national events until earlier last year when he won the New Zealand champion of champions club singles title. Scott was runner-up in the New Zealand championship singles in Dunedin in 2007 and reached the semifinals in the event in Christchurch a year later.
He has been unstoppable over the past 12 months and reached an important milestone when he won his Bowls Dunedin gold star and represented New Zealand at the Asia Merduka events in Malaysia.
He was also a member of the North East Valley team that finished runner-up to Eastbourne (Wellington) in the national interclub sevens.
The other members of that team were Jim Scott, Mark Watt, Terry Scott, Greg Cash, Colin Wheeler and Peter Unkovich.
Another notable achievement acknowledged at the awards night was the performance of the St Clair pair of Ross Brown and Trish Marr, who finished runner-up in the New Zealand mixed pairs.
