NATIVE ACTION NETWORK RECOGNIZES FIVE CHAMPIONS OF OUR FUTURE DURING 19TH ANNUAL WOMEN’S FORUM
We are pleased to announce Mary Wilber (Osoyoos Indian Band), Jeri-Marie Bennett (Lummi/Suquamish/Duwamish), Teresa Iyall Williams (Coeur d’Alene) and Binah McCloud (Puyallup) have won the 2023 Enduring Spirit Award. For the first time, a Rising Star award will be given to Alana Quintasket (Swinomish).
The 2023 Enduring Spirit Awards will be presented during a luncheon on September 15, 2023, at the Westin in downtown Seattle, which coincides with our annual Native Women's Leadership Forum. Tickets can be purchased here.
Enduring Spirit Awards
Native Action Network recognizes Native women for their lifetime commitments to building strong, healthy Native communities and intergenerational connection. Each year, a public call for nominations is released, and women selected to receive awards are celebrated amongst their peers at our Women’s Leadership Forum. Recipients of the Enduring Spirit Award have contributed significantly to positive change within their communities. These leaders have advocated powerfully for environmental protections, access to quality education, holistic health and wellness, cultural preservation, traditional knowledge, tribal sovereignty, strengthening of treaty rights, tribal economic development and beyond.
Honorees
2022
Dr. Carol Minugh (Gros Ventre), Shelley Means (White Earth Chippewa/Sioux), Susan Balbas (Cherokee/Yaqui), and Shana Brown (Yakama/Muckleshoot/Puyallup)
2021
Boo Balkan Foster (Apache/Adopted Makah), Carol Emarthle-Douglas (Northern Arapaho/Seminole), Lori Lea Pourier (Oglala Lakota), and Michele Vendiola (Swinomish)
Special recognition and presentation of the Sister Spirit Award to Abigail Echo-Hawk (Pawnee)
2020
Becky Bendixen (Unangax), Janie Beasley (Swinomish), Renee Swan-Waite (Lummi), Sondra Segundo (Haida/Katzie)
2019
Yvette Joseph (Colville Confederated Tribes), Patty Kinswa-Gaiser (Cowlitz), Polly Olsen (Yakama), Teresa Taylor (Lummi)
2018
Deborah Sioux Cano-Lee (Salt River Pima-Maricopa), Nancy Shippentower-Games (Puyallup), Jenece Howe (Yakama), Cecilia FireThunder (Oglala Sioux)
2017
Laverne Lane (Lummi), Theresa Sheldon (Tulalip), LaVerne Wise (Tlingit), Gail T. Morris (NaaChahNulth)
2016
Peggy McCloud (Puyallup), Sue Henry (Suquamish), Emma Medicine Whitecrow (Cherokee/Comanche), Maria Pascua (Makah), and Charlanne Quinto (Colville)
2015
Robbie Paul (Nez Perce), Mary Ann Peltier (Chippewa/Assiniboine Sioux), Yvonne Peterson (Chehalis), and Frances G. Charles (Lower Elwha Klallam)
2014
Ramona Ahto (Yakama), Dianne Allen (Coeur d’Alene), Darlene Miller (Seneca), Earlene Bala (Seneca)
2013
Virginia Bill (Upper Skagit), Beverly Peters (Swinomish), Patsy Whitefoot (Yakama), Teri Gobin (Tulalip)
2011
Mary A. Miller Marchand (Colville), Pearl Capoeman Baller (Quinault), Dr. Verna Bartlett (Puyallup), Dr. Cheryl Crazy Bull (Lakota)
Special Recognition and presentation of the Sister Spirit Award to Eloise Cobell (Blackfeet)
2010
Marlene Spencer Simla (Yakama), Ileen Sylvester (Yup’ik/Athabascan/Aleut), Gloria Simpson (Confederated Tribes of Colville – Chief Joseph Band of Nez Perce), Deborah Parker (Tulalip)
2008
Viole Riebe (Hoh), Juanita Jefferson (Lummi), Charlotte Kalama (Quinault), Wilma Arquette (Eastern Shoshone)
Special Recognition and presentation of the Sister Spirit Award to Mary Kim Titla (Apache)
2007
Debora Juarez (Blackfeet), Ivy Cheyney (Suquamish), Ellen Hope Hays (Tlingit), Diane Vendiola (Swinomish)
2006
Carol Craig (Yakama), Theresa Parker (Makah), Dr. Lee Piper (Cherokee), Emma Sweet Baxter (Snoqualmie), Lois Sweet Dorman (Snoqualmie)
2004
Johanna Cabaug (Tlingit), Lillian Chappel (Yakama), Julie Johnson (Lummi), Marie Zackuse (Tulalip)
2003
Ramona Bennett (Puyallup), Virginia Cross (Muckleshoot), Joy Ketah (Blackfeet), Marilyn Wandry (Suquamish)
2002
Adeline Garcia (Haida), Joan Staples Baum (Ojibwe), Maiselle Bridges (Puyallup), Gina George (Yakama), Jeannie Halliday Thomas (Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs)