2010 NAJA Convention - The Native Nations Media Conference
The 2010 NAJA convention will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota from Wednesday, July 21st-Saturday, July 24th, 2010.
Please check back often as we update the site with more details about our next successful conference!
President's Message
Native Journalists:
I humbly accept the responsibility to keep the Native American Journalists Association on the path set in its mission statement.
We have commemorated a quarter century of existence during the latest successful convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
NAJA Board Election Information
NAJA Members, according to the NAJA By-laws you must declare your intention to run for the NAJA Board 75 days before the election. The next election will be held on Friday July 23, 2010 and 75 days before the election is May 9, 2010. Three positions are open for the upcoming election.
Article IV of the NAJA By-laws are below:
IV. DECLARATION OF BOARD CANDIDACY
1. Candidates must declare their intention to run for the board between Jan. 1 and 75 days before the election.
2. After their eligibility to run for the board has been determined, candidates shall submit a photo, bio, and a brief summary of what the candidate hopes to achieve through service on the board.
In addition, the NAJA Board of Directors has adopted the following definition of "media professional" and recommended procedure for the Election Board to follow:
"A media professional is defined as a journalist who works for either tribal media or mainstream media and earns 51 percent of his or her annual income through journalism. A journalist is someone who works in the gathering, writing, editing, photographing, publishing and disseminating of news as through, but not limited to, a newspaper, magazine, radio, television station, or World Wide Web publication owned and operated by a news media outlet. (Native educators and students are exempt.)
"Determining whether a board candidate is eligible to hold office shall be the responsibility of the Election Committee. When the NAJA office receives written notification that a NAJA member has declared his or her candidacy for office, the Election Committee has 21 days to notify the candidate in writing whether he or she is eligible to run for the NAJA board. The written determination of eligibility will be sent to the candidate, with copies to the NAJA President and Executive Director. Any candidate determined ineligible will receive an explanation for the ruling within the notification letter.
"An election report shall be prepared and distributed during the annual membership meeting. The report shall include the list of board candidates and any explanations why a candidate was determined ineligible to run, along with general procedures followed during that year's election process."
(Note: This policy shall be published in every document that NAJA releases concerning board candidates.)
Declaring Your Candidacy
If you wish to declare your candidacy for the board, send a message to jharjo@ou.edu to submit your name. Within three weeks, you will receive notification from the Election Committee that your name has been accepted and shall be placed on the ballot. To run for the board, you must be a member with voting privileges who falls under the definition of "media professional," and you must be at least 18 years old on the election date.