Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 11, 1 Nowemapa 2022 — In Search of a Native Perspective: Giving Voice to Nā Kānaka Maoli [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

In Search of a Native Perspective: Giving Voice to Nā Kānaka Maoli

Amee Hi'ilawe Neves wins national native journalismscholarship

By Mahealani Cypher At the age of 10, Amee Hi'ilawe Neves of Wai'anae first tried her hand at media production. She loved telling stories, and the idea of using a broadcast medium to share these mo'olelo intrigued her. A decade later, Neves heeame the first Native Hawaiian to receive one of two annual scholarship awards from the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) via its new Paeihe Islander journalism scholarship. Funded with support from The Omidyar Group, the scholarship award was created in 2022 to help Indigenous Paeihe Islanders pursue careers in journalism - especially in the U.S. and in U.S.-afRliated Paeihe islands. In addition to Neves, the other 2022 awardee is Sera Tikotikoivatu-Sefeti, of Fiji, who studies journalism at the University of the South Paeihe. Neves' story reflects an early connection to the profession of storytelling in journalism.

Neves interviews Denise Eby Konan, Dean of the College of Social Sciences and UH Mōnoa Provost Miehael Bruno for the College of Social Sciences livestream of the Mōnoa Experience Event in April 2022. - Photo: Courtesy Coming from an island family, her early interest in journalism emerged through her youthful storytelling in school projects. Following her first efforts as a 10-year-old, she continued while in the seventh grade by creating puhlie service announcements. "My parents were extremely supportive of me doing this kind of stuff," says Neves. "1hey were always so supportive of me." She capitalized on the well-known, popular student media program "Searider Productions" at Wai'anae High

School, where her enthusiasm for journalism grew and was nurtured. After graduating from high school in 2020, Neves enrolled in the journalism program at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, where she is currently in her junior year. When she graduates from UH Mānoa, she anticipates using her scholarship to pursue her master's degree in education, probably at Mānoa. She applied for the NAJA scholarship after receiving recommendations ffom friends and her professors. Neves hopes to enter the professional field of journalism after she completes her studies - she prefers broadcast media - but wants to teach broadcast journalism someday. In her work as well as in her teaching, she wants to focus on offering positive stories about ordinary people. "I like presenting people's stories, through broadcast media," Neves added. "Often with print media, you get shut down a lot. I enjoy broadcast, you ean tell another side of the story that people aren't able to see." Regarding her experience at UH, Neves said that all of her stories are about Hawaiians. "I do feel the need to tell as many Hawaiian stories as I ean. I enjoy being like the platform for people to get their SEE GIVING V0ICE T0 NĀ KĀNAKA MA0LI 0N PAGE 12

views out there," Neves said.

GIVING V0ICET0 NĀ KĀNAKA MAOLI Continued from page 7

Neves would like to see a greater emphasis on presenting news from the perspective of Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and expressed eoncern that mueh of what has

Amee Hi'ilawe been taught in her UH jourNeves - Photo: nalism classes comes from a Courtesy Western approach. She also noted that she's been disappointed that many UH Mānoa journalism students do not seem to care about pronouncing or spelling Hawaiian words and phrases correctly but added that she sees some improvement in one of her advanced journalism classes. Neves said her favorite journalist is

Steve Hartman of CBS News. "I really like Steve Hartman's work - he finds a way to tell stories about everyday people. I think it's eool." What are her hopes for the future in journalism? "I just want to bring more positive news to Hawai'i - something that is lacking, that often gets overlooked," said Neves. "I'm hoping it's something we ean do more of." ■ Mahealani Cypher has a long career writingfor various media and in eommunieationsfor government agencies. She'sworked as a news writerfor KHONTV2, a reporter for United Press International, news editor for Sun Press Community Newspapers, a writer for the Hawai'i Teamsters & Hotel Workers unions, and as community relations officer for the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. She is currently afreelance writer and preparing a book on the eommunity struggle over the H-3freeway.