A year-old Native American journal based at Cornell University is casting a wide net for story ideas – and is being widely recognized for its efforts.

Native Americas has been named best magazine by the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA), a Minnesota-based professional organization with more than 400 members. The journal also won in the categories of best editorial, best news story and best feature photo.

“We are delighted that, in only our first year of publication, the serious intent of our journalism has been recognized and acknowledged by our peers,” said José Barreiro, editor-in-chief of Akwe:kon Press, which publishes the journal out of Cornell’s American Indian Program. (Akwe:kon, a Mohawk word pronounced “ah-gway’-gohn,” means “all of us.”)

The NAJA awards judges were Mark Boswell, Tony Lonetree, Ann Merrill and Jean Shea, all of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Glenda Holste of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. They made their selections from more than 100 entries and announced the winners at the association’s 12th annual awards ceremony in Bangor, Maine, earlier this summer.

In singling out Native Americas for general excellence, the judges said, “Solid writing and clean formality in design set this magazine/journal apart from the other entries as a serious-edged mainstream journal not afraid of tackling heavy or distant trouble spots in Indian Country: whether that be in the Northwest Territories or the Miskito Coast.”

Barreiro’s essay, “Bigotshtick: Rush Limbaugh on Indians,” was named best editorial and called “a terrific deconstruction of Rush Limbaugh’s persona” by the NAJA judges.

In the category of best news story – non-Native, contributing editor Bill Weinberg won first place for his feature, “The Battle for the Miskito Coast: Piracy and Ecology on Nicaragua’s Wild Frontier.” And a cover photo by Navajo photographer Larry Gus of dice and chips on a gambling table was awarded for “incorporating [a] great mix of objects, color and depth.”

Native Americas has caught the attention of reviewers elsewhere. In the July issue of Library Journal, reviewer Eric Bryant hailed it as “a serious but lively and highly readable examination of contemporary cultures.”

A 64-page glossy magazine with a circulation of about 5,000, Native Americas is funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Lannan Foundation and Educational Foundation of America. The journal lends Native perspectives to issues facing Native peoples and strives to build bridges between academic and nonacademic communities. Its editorial board includes 16 prominent Native American scholars and leaders, including famed Cherokee activist Wilma Mankiller and Lakota author Vine Deloria Jr.

The journal evolved from an earlier Cornell publication and NAJA award winner, Akwe:kon Journal (formerly called Northeast Indian Quarterly) under the direction of Barreiro and Tim Johnson, executive manager of Akwe:kon Press. Both have extensive experience covering Native American issues for other publications: Barreiro, a Taino, was associate editor of Akwesasne Notes before he came to Cornell, and Johnson, a Mohawk, is a former columnist for the Niagara Gazette.

In departments like “Indigenous Rights Watch,” “Hemispheric Digest” and “The Public Eye” (a review of media coverage), Native Americas has covered everything from Seminole traditional life in the 1990s to Native Americans’ use of the Internet.

“We want to provide a forum for all voices in Native communities to find expression,” Barreiro said, “and we want discussion of the issues to go beyond the superficial. In dealing with Native peoples, the mainstream press is locked into egregiously superficial themes: ‘living in two worlds,’ ‘tradition versus modernity,’ ‘poverty and alcoholism.’ Even the major newsmagazines can’t seem  to get past these themes.”

What’s more, the mainstream coverage tends to focus on conflict, said Johnson: “the ones for it, the ones against it. What’s most important to us,” he said, “is, ‘how can we establish constructive dialogue? What do people need to find answers, and who can provide a solution to the problem?” He cited his recent article on gaming on reservations as an example of a more constructive approach to coverage. “A fierce opponent of gaming came up to me and said, ‘I really enjoyed your story, because it made me think about what is possible, instead of just what is impossible.’ That’s a major shift.”

That kind of feedback demonstrates the impact Native Americas can have at the local level, said Barreiro and Johnson – and why it is so appropriate that the journal is based at Cornell.

“One of the interesting things about Cornell is its land-grant extension component,” Barreiro said. “ I think that our journal fits in perfectly with Cornell’s mandate to have a bearing and impact on the community.”

Barreiro defined the constituency of Native Americas as “the indigenous intelligentsia of the Americas. That includes tribal leaders, culture bearers and educators – thinking people who may or may not have an academic degree.”

Johnson added, “I think members of the general public can learn a lot from our magazine. The erosion of the Indian land base, and all the rights that go with it, is a continuing aspect of American history. In some ways, the Indian wars didn’t stop.”