about 8,000 journalists of color from all over the world converged on Chicago last week to participate in UNITY 2008 including Native American journalists representing tribes, pueblos and indigenous peoples throughout Indian Country.
UNITY 2008 was comprised mainly of four minority media organizations - the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists and the Native American Journalists Association.
In addition, many more minority media representatives in attendance joined for a week of serious discussion, meetings, debate and planning regarding the current state of minority journalists in today's world and what is in store for the future.
Throughout the week numerous topics were discussed and there were hundreds of speakers, panelists and presentations and a huge exhibition hall that housed just about every major newspaper, radio and television organization in the United States.
There were also many job recruiters on hand conducting interviews and looking over resumes.
UNITY 2008 was also a time for journalists of color to celebrate their hard work and the accomplishments that came with it. It was also an occasion to recognize and respect the beautiful cultures, traditions, languages and homelands that everyone brought to the event.
It truly was a colorful, entertaining and enriching experience. It was also quite expensive.
Like the other three organizations, the Native American Journalists Association took time to recognize and celebrate the wonderful work of its members. The annual NAJA awards banquet was held at the Chicago American Indian Center on Friday evening.
Entertainment was provided by comedian Charlie Hill of Los Angeles who has been a member and friend of NAJA and the Navajo Times for many years.
The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the award winners from the annual NAJA media contest.
The staff of the Navajo Times won eight first place awards including first place for general excellence for daily and weekly publications.
The Times staff also received the Richard LaCourse Memorial Award for Investigative Reporting. Marley Shebala, Annie Greenberg, Jason Begay, Bill Donovan and Cindy Yurth shared this honor for their coverage of the three-part series titled "Housing fiasco."
In photography, longtime Navajo Times shutterbug Paul Natonabah won best sports photo for "Peewee," a colorful action shot of a young barrel racer.
Donovan Quintero won two awards including best feature photo for "Mud," showing a young Navajo girl covered in mud at the Navajo Mountain celebration, and best news photo for "Purple Heart," an image of Army Spc. Alroy Billiman, an Iraq war veteran, saluting with his prosthetic arm at the ceremony when he was awarded the Purple Heart.
Times reporter Jason Begay earned best news story for "Audit: OnSat overpaid by more the $650,000," about one of several boondoggles by the Navajo government.
In the past year Times reporter Cindy Yurth has been honored for her work with awards from the Arizona Press Club and the Arizona Newspapers Association. Well, now she has awards from NAJA, too.
Yurth earned best associate beat coverage of Native Americans for her story "A century on the rez." She also received best associate news story for her article "Cultural issues cloud custody case."
As the publisher of the Navajo Times, I really am proud of the accomplishments of the Times staff and that includes everyone who works here. Each week I witness the hard work and long hours put forth by the staff and much of their labor and sacrifice goes unnoticed by many, but not by me. I have a great staff and I am proud to be their leader.
I also want to thank you, the readers and customers of the Navajo Times, for your support, help and friendship. We live in a tough world and nation and we have our share of critics but that just shows we are doing our job because you can never satisfy all of the people all of the time. No one can.
I get to travel off of the reservation from time to time and I always come home with more appreciation for our land, our culture and people. There are folks out there in the big cities and other countries who really have nothing - no land, no culture and no people. That is sad and scary.
In Chicago, I met and spoke with many people from a variety of cultures and hometowns. I came home with a renewed feeling of purpose. As journalists of color, we are different in the way we look, speak and live but we are all similar in what we do and that is to tell our people our stories.
The following is a list of all the winners from the NAJA 2008 Awards Banquet:
- Best High School News Story: "Legislators Want English as Official Language"
Rebekka Schlichting, Kickapoo Nation School.
- Best College Feature: "Damming Tradition"
Terria Smith, Humboldt State University.
- Best College News Story: "Crackdown on False Alarms Pays Off"
Nancy Kelsey, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
- Best Feature Story (daily/weekly): "After the Deluge"
Kara Briggs, The Oregonian.
- Best Layout Magazine: SAY Magazine
Leslie Lounsbury.
- Best Online Visual Graphic: Indian Country Today
Marty Two Bulls.
- Best Layout Tabloid: CUJ
Wil Phinney.
- Best Online Writing: Potawatomi Traveling Times.
- Best Column: "Build Strong Economic Base Using Casino Funds"
Doug Cutthand, Saskatoon Star Phoenix.
- Best Photo Sports: "Peewee"
Paul Natonabah, Navajo Times.
- General Excellence (daily/weekly): Navajo Times
Duane A. Beyal, editor.
- General Excellence in Radio: "The Earth Our Mother"
Shaneen Robinson, NCI FM.
- Best Associate News Story: "Cultural Issues Cloud Custody Case"
Cindy Yurth, Navajo Times.
- Best Column (monthly/bimonthly): "Blueberry Picking as a Method of Torture"
Kalvin Perron.
- Richard LaCourse Award for Investigative Reporting: Cindy Yurth, Jason Begay, Bill Donovan, Annie Greenberg, Marley Shebala, Navajo Times.
- Best Environmental (daily/weekly): Terri Hansen.
- General Excellence (monthly/bimonthly): SAY Magazine
Leslie Lounsbury.
- Best News Story (daily/weekly): "Audit: OnSat overpaid by more than $650,000"
Jason Begay, Navajo Times.
- Best Associate Beat Coverage of Native Americans: "A Century on the Rez"
Cindy Yurth, Navajo Times.
- Best Editorial: "Injustice for Indian Women"
Randi Rourke, Indian Country Today.
- Best Environmental Story (monthly/bimonthly): Deborah Locke, Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
- Best Sports Story: Eric Bailey, Tulsa World.
- Best News Story (monthly/bimonthly): "Tribal Victory"
Terri C. Hansen.
- Best Feature Story (monthly/bimonthly): "An Ick-quired Taste?"
Ron Karten, Smoke Signals.
- Best Photo - Feature: "Mud"
Donovan Quintero, Navajo Times.
- Best Photo - News: "Purple Heart"
Donovan Quintero, Navajo Times.
- Best Television Feature: "Magic on the Water"
Tracy Jack, Straight Arrow.
- NAJA Milestone Award: Jack Marsh, Vice President, Diversity Programs of the Freedom Forum.
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