Source NM staff and contributors recognized in this year’s NAJA contest

The annual Native American Journalists Association contest features top reporting from across the U.S. and Canada. Most divisions recognize Indigenous journalists, but journalists covering Native American issues who aren’t Indigenous are encouraged to apply in others.

Source New Mexico is proud to have placed in both. 

Our entries represent work from the last four months of 2021 since Source NM launched on Aug. 31 last year. As an editor, it’s been fun to scope the work from our first days and weeks that’s represented here. I’m grateful to the talented staff members and freelancers who helped our outlet build strength and momentum with great stories and photos. 

Their winning work is linked below. 

Source New Mexico covers what Senior Reporter Shaun Griswold termed the “ecosystem of governments” in this region with an eye on policy decisions and their impacts on the ground. If you’re a freelance photographer, reporter or columnist who wants to work with us, please reach out to [email protected]. 

And a heartfelt congratulations to NAJA contest winners everywhere! 

Professional divisions I&II, print and online

Excellence in beat reporting

First place — Shaun Griswold: Missing and murdered

Professional division I, print and online

Best environmental coverage

First place — Arlyssa Becenti: Navajo Nation pushes for radioactive waste remnants to be fully removed

Best news story

Second place — Shaun Griswold: Former superintendent files discrimination lawsuit against Four Corners school district

Best feature story

Second place — Shaun Griswold: Popular app AllTrails leads people to sacred sites, some on tribal lands

Best multimedia

Second Place — Shaun Griswold: ABQ officials to begin radar work and plan for a memorial at boarding school gravesite

Best elder coverage

Honorable mention — Shaun Griswold: Distance doesn’t have to become isolation for Indigenous elders

Best news photo

Second place — Sharon Chischilly: Indigenous communities face choices about Indian School gravesite in Albuquerque

Associate divisions I&II, print and online

Best coverage of Native America 

First place — Austin Fisher: A lack of ballot drop boxes adds another barrier to Native voting access

Honorable mention — Patrick Lohmann: Tribal leaders object to 11th-hour NM Senate redistricting map

Best photo of Native America

Third place — Shelby Wyatt (formerly Kleinhans) — Families gather to speak for MMIW in Old Town