Native American Journalism Career Conference

The 10th annual Native American Journalism Career Conference will be held at Crazy Horse Memorial April 14-16, 2009.

The Native American Journalism Career Conference, held at Crazy Horse Memorial every April since 2000, is the largest Native student journalism program of its kind in the country.  This year conference organizers are expecting 125 high school and college students, and 75 mentors, teachers and staff to participate.

The 9th annual conference held April 22-24, 2008 attracted the largest total attendance, and the second-best student attendance.  During the 2008 conference, two young ladies each received a $2,000 scholarship for further study. With these awards, the Crazy Horse scholarship program passed the one million dollar mark in cumulative awards.  It began in 1978 with a modest $250 award.  The presentation of the 2009 Crazy Horse Memorial Journalism Scholarships will take place at 11:00 am on Thursday, April 16 in the Orientation Theater.

Over the course of the three-day conference, experienced journalists – many of them Native American – will mentor the students on the basic skills and practices of journalism, including writing, photography and multimedia.  Featured speakers at general sessions will include Freedom Forum and USA TODAY founder Al Neuharth, Mount Rushmore Superintendent Gerard Baker, and Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation CEO/President Ruth Ziolkowski.

The conference is funded by the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute and co-sponsored by the South Dakota Newspaper Association, the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, the Native American Journalists Association, and the journalism programs at South Dakota State University and the University of South Dakota.

For more information on the conference contact

Doris Giago with SDSU, 605.655.6236 • Doris_Giago@sdstate.edu; or

Janine Harris with the Freedom Forum, 605.677.5424 • jharris@freedomforum.org.