Smoke Signals receives 10 NAJA awards

Smoke Signals received 10 awards, including four first-place honors, in the 2013 Native Media Awards competition conducted by the Native American Journalists Association.

Publications Coordinator Dean Rhodes and staff writer Ron Karten swept two writing categories in the Associate Member division.

Karten received a first-place award in the Feature Story category for his story about Tribal employees helping to ground survey the cemetery at Chemawa Indian School. Rhodes took second place in the same category for a story about archaeological work conducted at Fort Yamhill State Park that discovered a significant female presence and Karten took third place for his story about a lost ring that was found when modular buildings were dismantled on the Tribal campus.

In the News Story category, Karten took first place for his story about active shooter training that was held at the former Willamina Middle School building - now Chachalu -- in early 2013. Rhodes took second and third place, respectively, for stories about a Tribal member who barely avoided being involved in the Boston Marathon bombing and for his story about the farewell ceremony for beloved Tribal Elder Mike Larsen.

Tribal photographer Michelle Alaimo won first place in the News Photo category for a series of three photos.

Karten also took first place in the Best Coverage of Native Americans category for his story about the Grand Ronde Tribe protesting a re-organization at the University of Oregon that affected Native students and faculty. He bested two reporters from the much larger Navajo Times in the category.

Karten also received a third-place award for Best Environmental Story for a piece on the electric car charging stations that opened at Grand Ronde Station in early 2013.

Tribal page designer Justin Phillips also received a third-place award for Best Design.

"Sweeping so many award categories is a testament to the hard work, dedication and professionalism of the Public Affairs/Publications team," said Public Affairs Director Siobhan Taylor. "Our focus is telling the story of the Tribe and promoting our culture, history, leadership and human interest through thorough and respectful writing, photography and design. I am not only proud of our winners, but also proud of the entire team that supports their work effort."

The awards will be handed out at the National Native Media Awards banquet being held July 12 in Santa Clara, Calif.

The contest was judged by members of the University of Omaha-Nebraska, Society of Professional Journalists, Society of Environmental Journalists, Asian American Journalists Association and Center for Investigative Reporting.