The Montana Native News Honors Project is an annual publication that is reported, photographed, edited, and designed by students in the University of Montana’s School of Journalism.
Each year, teams of writers and photographers travel to Montana’s seven Indian reservations, as well as the headquarters of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, to investigate and document in-depth stories on a single topic of importance to the state’s Native American population.
The class has covered a variety of hard news and feature themes such as justice, health care disparity, education, language preservation, the MMIWG crisis, politics and representation, relationships, and sports and recreation. Equally important, students have reported untold stories of the everyday — stories of hope, love and connection, stories that build a more nuanced and complex picture of Native American life.
Using a semester-long curriculum, students conduct in-depth research on tribal life and tribal issues as they produce stories for an annual special news magazine that is published online and in newspapers statewide. The project’s first edition published in 1992. This year, the class produced the 31st annual edition.
Funding support for the 2022 publication came from the University of Montana School of Journalism and the Greater Montana Foundation, encouraging communication on issues, trends and values of importance to Montanans.
If you have comments about the project, email us at:
Jason Begay – jason.begay@umontana.edu and Jeremy Lurgio – jeremy.lurgio@umontana.edu
or write to:
Native News, School of Journalism, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula, MT 59812