2020 CREATIVE NATIVE WINNERS

Naataani
5-9 Years Old Winner 
8 years old, Navajo
Naataani is an 8-year-old in 3rd grade. He performs often by singing or drumming for events. He has advocated for Native American issues such educational rights, pipeline placement, water rights & recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day in his area. Naataani knows that he makes his grandparents hearts and minds happy when he carries on traditions of singing songs and speaking his language.

Kharma
10-14 Years Old Winner 
11 years old, Navajo 
Kharma is an 11-year-old who loves music, basketball, art, science, English Language Arts, and her cat, Lucy. She is an only child being raised by her mother and is close to her maternal side of her family that encourages her academically and in her extra-curricular activities. She enjoys volunteering at Feed My Starving Children with her mom and friends. Kharma enjoys making up her own choreography to music and traveling with her mother.

Tvli Birdshead
15-19 Years Old – Grand Prize Winner 
19 years old, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Choctaw, Chickasaw, & Oglala 
Tvli is sophomore at the Institute of American Indian Arts, working towards his Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in Studio Arts, and plan to work with Native Youth in his community after graduating. His work is both a reflection of his life and what it means to me to be Two-Spirit. Because of colonization, Tvli has felt unaccepted and disregarded by his own family. To help heal others, he uses many creative platforms by making videos, digital works, paintings, and drawings. Through his artwork, Tvli aspires to help heal others from the physical, mental, and intergenerational trauma his viewers have endured.

Raven Dial-Stanley
20-24 Years Old Winner 
22 years old, Lumbee 
Henrietta Raven Dial-Stanley is an enrolled member of the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina; largest tribe east of the Mississippi River. Even though her lineage comes from Pembroke, NC she currently resides in Greensboro, NC. Raven has been diligently working in Native American affairs for most of her life. In 2018-2019 she served as Miss Indian North Carolina where she became an ambassador for all the indigenous people in the state. In all aspects of her being she employs optimism and creativity. Therefore, Raven uses her artistry to tell the story of her people and their presence.