Indigenous Journalists Association will host a virtual candidate Q&A July 6
The Indigenous Journalists Association will hold its board of directors election online from July 8– 22 and in person from July 22– 23 at the Indigenous Media Conference in Portland.
All eligible members will receive a unique ballot link at the email associated with their membership. Each member may cast one ballot, online or in-person. The IJA Election Committee will verify submissions to prevent duplication, and if more than one ballot is tied to a single member, all of that member’s votes will be voided.
To vote, members must be in good standing with their annual dues paid by July 8, 2026. Eligible voting categories are: Individual Professional (Indigenous), Indigenous College Student, Tribal Media, Native Nonprofit and Lifetime. Associate and institutional members are not eligible to vote.
Ahead of casting their votes, members are invited to attend two webinars: a Bylaws Q&A on Tuesday, June 30 (5:30-6:30 p.m.) and a Candidate Q&A on Monday, July 6 (6-7 p.m.) Registration is required.
Results will be announced at the Indigenous Media Awards Banquet to be held during IJA’s annual Indigenous Media Conference, Friday, July 24 from 6–9 p.m. PDT
Graham Lee Brewer (one-year term)
Graham Lee Brewer (Cherokee Nation) is a Nieman Fellow at Harvard and a former president of the Indigenous Journalists Association. He previously covered Indian Country for the Associated Press, NBC News, and High Country News. An award-winning journalist, his reporting on criminal justice, tribal policy, and politics has appeared in the New York Times, NPR, ProPublica, Rolling Stone, and the Guardian.
Read Graham’s personal statement here.
Sunnie Clahchischiligi (three-year term)
Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi, Ph.D., Diné, is the Indigenous Affairs Editor for High Country News. She has reported for the Navajo Times, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone and others. Her work has won multiple awards including the IJA Richard LaCourse Award for Investigative Journalism alongside the Indigenous Investigative Collective. She was inducted into the 2022 North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame for Sports Writing and is a 2026 University of New Mexico Alumni Zia Award recipient. Clahchischiligi teaches at Arizona State University and is from T’iis Názbąs, Arizona.
Read Sunnie’s personal statement here.
Melissa Greene-Blye (three-year term)
Melissa Greene-Blye, Ph.D., Miami Tribe of Oklahoma , is an assistant professor at the University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, where she directs the Center for Indigenous Student Media and founded the KU Native Storytelling Workshop. She spent more than 20 years as a broadcast journalist before turning to teaching and research on Native identity and representation in the news. She also founded Good Morning Indian Country, the nation’s only Native student-led weekly newscast. Greene-Blye is the current chair of IJA’s Education Committee.
Read Melissa’s personal statement here.
Joseph Lee (three-year term)
Joseph Lee (Aquinnah Wampanoag) is the Indigenous Affairs Editor for the Mountain West News Bureau and the Project Manager for the Indigenous News Alliance. He is the author of the book Nothing More of This Land, which was a finalist for the 2026 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. His work has also appeared in Grist, The New York Times, The Nation, High Country News, and more.
Read Joseph’s personal statement here.
In addition to electing board members, voters will decide a ballot question to approve the amended IJA Bylaws and Amended Certificate of Incorporation.
Election Guidelines
The Native American Journalists Association bylaws state, under Article VII, Section 1, that the membership shall determine the election process.
In 1996, the NAJA membership voted to establish an Election Committee to organize and facilitate annual board elections. The following guidelines were adopted in Bangor, Maine, on June 22, 1996. The board later revised and adopted them on March 26, 2006, and updated them in March 2009.
Declaration of board candidacy:
Candidates must declare their intention to run for the board between Jan. 1 and six weeks before the election.
After their eligibility to run for the board has been determined, candidates shall submit a photo, bio and brief summary of what the candidate hopes to achieve through service on the board, including fundraising goals and ideas.
In addition, the NAJA Board of Directors has adopted the following definition of “media professional” and recommended procedure for the Election Board to follow:
“A media professional is defined as a journalist who works for either tribal media or mainstream media and earns 51 percent of his or her annual income through journalism. A journalist is someone who works in the gathering, writing, editing, photographing, publishing and disseminating of news as through, but not limited to, a newspaper, magazine, radio, television station, or World Wide Web publication owned and operated by a news media outlet.”
“Determining whether a board candidate is eligible to hold office shall be the responsibility of the Election Committee. When the NAJA office receives written notification that a NAJA member has declared his or her candidacy for office, the Election Committee has 21 days to notify the candidate in writing whether he or she is eligible to run for the NAJA board. The written determination of eligibility will be sent to the candidate, with copies to the NAJA President and Executive Director. Any candidate determined ineligible will receive an explanation for the ruling within the notification letter.”
“An election report shall be prepared and distributed during the annual membership meeting. The report shall include the list of board candidates and any explanations why a candidate was determined ineligible to run, along with general procedures followed during that year’s election process.”
(Note: This policy shall be published in every document that NAJA releases concerning board candidates.)
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The Indigenous Journalists Association’s Mission
IJA serves and empowers Indigenous journalists through programs and actions designed to enrich journalism and promote Indigenous cultures. IJA recognizes Indigenous people as distinct peoples based on tradition and culture. In this spirit, IJA educates and unifies its membership through journalism programs that promote diversity and defends challenges to free press, speech and expression. IJA is committed to increasing the representation of Indigenous journalists in mainstream media. IJA encourages both mainstream and tribal media to attain the highest standards of professionalism, ethics and responsibility.
About IJA
The Indigenous Journalists Association’s mission is centered on the idea that accurate and contextual reporting about Indigenous people and communities is necessary to overcome biases and stereotypes portrayed in popular and mainstream media. Expanding access to accurate news and information is essential to an informed citizenry and healthy democracy, across tribal, local, state and national levels. For more than 40 years, Indigenous journalists across the United States and Canada have worked to support and sustain IJA. Originally formed as the Native American Press Association in 1983, the organization has grown from just a handful of reporters to a membership of nearly 900, which includes Indigenous journalists, associates, educators and partners.