CBC Indigenous wins 3 awards at Indigenous Journalists Association conference
CBC
Over 400 Indigenous journalists from around the world gathered in Oklahoma City, Okla., last week for the Indigenous Journalists Association (IJA) conference, which celebrates Indigenous storytellers, and promotes diverse Indigenous cultures and languages.
Journalists were given awards for their hard work and dedication to telling Indigenous stories on Saturday, where they were celebrated at the IJA media awards ceremony.
Three CBC Indigenous reporters won awards from the association.
Janell Henry, who works with CBC Indigenous in Winnipeg, got a 1st place award in the radio/podcast category for her story on Rez radio. This story told the importance of rez radio in a Manitoba community that uses it for all their updates, and keeps them connected.
Jacqueline Mckay works with CBC Indigenous in Vancouver. She got a 2nd place award in the television – best feature category for her story on Sinixt's exclusion in Columbia River Treaty negotiations. This story highlighted the Sinixt's struggle of being removed from their traditional territories that were on the Canadian side of the border, and not having any right to negotiate.
Candace Maracle's story about the overdose crisis in Six Nations nabbed 3rd place in the print/online best health coverage category. This story discusses Ganohkwasra, a 29-bed shelter and counselling and outreach services that helps people who are struggling with addiction.
Susan Bell from Cree Media CBC won three awards in the categories of print/online – best feature story; print/online – best longform/magazine story; and print/online-AARP Elder coverage award for Honour walk held for Indigenous organ donor, Healing footsteps and Cree elder has been playing the fiddle for 70 years. Two of those awards were shared with Marjorie Kitty.
CBC's Unreserved received three awards in the categories of best feature story for Search the Landfill, best two-spirit coverage for Two-spirit artivists share two ways of seeing the world and general excellence for Healing after Harm: The Buffy Sainte-Marie investigation.
A full list of the winners is posted on the Indigenous Journalists Association website.
The Oklahoma city location gave attendees the opportunity to learn about the city and Indigenous territories that were in Oklahoma during the conference, which was held July 25-27.
The next location for the 2025 IJA conference has not been officially announced yet.