Buffalo’s Fire team shares in 2024 Indigenous Media Awards

Solutions journalism probe of Turtle Mountain pedestrian deaths wins Best News Story

Buffalo’s Fire and its team scored a number of honors in the 2024 Indigenous Media Awards competition. Its Solutions Journalism piece about pedestrian deaths on the Turtle Mountain Reservation garnered Best News Story.

Buffalo’s Fire also earned an Honorable Mention for Best Digital Publication marking its first entry in the competition. Additionally, reporter Alicia Hegland-Thorpe won two awards, first and third place finishes, for stories she covered before joining the Buffalo’s Fire staff.

The annual Indigenous Media Awards recognizes excellence in reporting by Native and non-Native journalists in the U.S. and Canada. This year, IJA received more than 800 entries across seven categories, including Student, Professional, and Associate divisions.

“We had another record-breaking awards season this year with 847 entries and will be presenting over 200 awards at our annual conference and awards banquet, July 25-27 in Oklahoma City,” said the IJA in an email. “We continue to see outstanding coverage of our peoples and communities that deserves to be awarded. IJA is grateful for the judges and all entrants as our awards program continues to grow because of them.”

“Pedestrian deaths, poor street lighting spark public safety concern on North Dakota reservation highway,” by Adrianna Adame, won Best News Story for the Print/Online category in Professional Division I. The story came about, said Adame, after three sources approached her during a span of three weeks about people dying along a dark stretch of highway on the Turtle Mountain Reservation. She learned that many tribal members must walk there at night due to a lack of transportation. She then discovered a U.S. Department of Energy report detailing the problem and proposing a solution: solar street lighting.

“This was one of the hardest stories I’ve worked on during my time here at Buffalo’s Fire,” said Adame. It took months to report, write and edit. Adame, an enrolled citizen of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy’s Reservation in Montana, is a Report for America corps member covering Indigenous Democracy across North Dakota for Buffalo’s Fire.

Buffalo’s Fire joined the Solutions Journalism Network’s first rural cohort, which ran from June to December 2023. That training and mentoring were central to bringing the story to life, said Adame. In addition to Buffalo’s Fire editors, SJN Rural Media Manager Melissa Cassutt and staffers of the Southern Ute Drum newsroom lent knowledge and experience.

“I remember getting frustrated during the process, especially when it felt like we were in a stagnant place,” wrote Adame in her announcement of the award on LinkedIn. “The SJN staff and our partner newsroom at the Southern Ute Drum gave me pointers and guided me in the right direction. I am forever grateful for their encouragement from start to finish.”

Former freelance journalist and podcast host Alicia Hegland-Thorpe joined the Buffalo’s Fire staff in March. She won first- and third-place distinctions for best feature story on previous contributions to Arts Midwest – with “An Act of Mending: An Internment Memorial in North Dakota Honors Resilience” and “Art as a Catalyst: Indigenous Expressions in North Dakota,” respectively. Hegland-Thorpe now serves as program director of Bismarck Documenters, a project of Buffalo’s Fire and the Documenters Network.

The awards news encouraged Jodi Rave Spotted Bear, founder and director of Buffalo’s Fire and the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance. “Our reporting staff and contributing editors work diligently every day to produce high-quality news with our readers. It’s great to see our staff’s talents recognized internationally.

“We’re already thinking about what we will start submitting for next year’s IJA awards,” said Spotted Bear. “As our reporting staff continues to grow, we’re expanding our local news platform and community engagement strategies to better amplify community voices.”

The Indigenous Media Association, formerly the Native American Journalists Association, changed its name last year to include Indigenous journalists worldwide, said Spotted Bear, an IJA board member. The full list of IJA winners is HERE.