For the first time in its history, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) has been honored with Indigenous Media Awards.
Jill-Marie Gavin, Cayuse, received two awards in Division One of the competition, placing third in both the Best Feature Photo and Best Multimedia categories. This brings her career total to 19 awards from the Indigenous Journalist Association, formerly the Native American Journalist Association.
Gavin joined CRITFC as a Public Information Specialist in February 2023, where she began producing social media and news content for the commission.
Her award-winning photo, ‘Sisters gather First Foods,” featured sisters Abigayle and Lisa Faye McIntosh, Cayuse, gathering latit latit (Indian celery) for a story about the annual feast on the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
The multimedia piece that earned her second award is a video Gavin produced of an interview with CRITFC Commissioner Bruce Jim, Warm Springs, narrating his life in Celilo Village before The Dalles Dam inundated Celilo Falls in 1955.
Jill-Marie Gavin, Cayuse, lives on and reports for CRITFC from the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
This was Gavin’s first time entering and placing in the multimedia category. Over the course of her career, Gavin has received awards in the photography, print, radio, and now multimedia categories.
CRITFC’s recognition at the Indigenous Media Awards underscores the organization’s growing influence in media representation for Indigenous communities and coverage of the unique stories of salmon culture, its member tribes’ work in natural resources restoration, and the lives of Columbia River fishers and communities.
Gavin will accept her awards at the Indigenous Media Conference in Oklahoma City, OK on July 28 during the association’s annual banquet.
For a complete list of the Indigenous Media Awards, click here.