NELLIE Ann (Ward) MOORE, "Iriqtaq"
Inducted: 2024
Deceased: 2024
NELLIE Ann (Ward) MOORE, "Iriqtaq"
Alaska and the nation lost a journalistic and cultural icon when Nellie Ann “Iriqtaq” (Ward) Moore left this world on January 31st of 2024.
Nellie is being honored for decades of award-winning achievement in state and national Journalism and for addressing the need to connect remote communities to news and information long before the term ‘news deserts’ became common.
Moore was born and raised in the Northwest Arctic community of Kotzebue, more than 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Her parents were Ed and Ada Ward. Ada was Inupiaq and Nellie’s Inupiaq name was Iriqtaq.
Nellie lived her life in service to others. When she spoke, her words were always straightforward, clear and honest. She was someone you knew you could immediately trust to tell you the truth, regardless of whether the news was good or not. People leaned in when Nellie spoke about the importance of reporting stories in Native communities from a Native perspective. She always adhered to rigorous ethical standards, while she helped clarify the need to hear directly from people about policy and laws that affected their lives and self-determination. She told stories that described the vibrant cultures of Alaska Native and American Indian people that helped connect to pride in the language and rich history and traditions of the nation’s Indigenous people.
Nellie understood the need for accuracy and elevating the voices of people who had no political power but offered important perspectives on history, culture, climate, the need for law enforcement in rural Alaska and the importance of keeping the culture and languages of Alaska Native people strong and thriving into the future.
Nellie realized that journalists play an integral role in our communities. Journalism holds those in power to account, exposes corruption, brings awareness to community concerns and provides the vital information citizens need to make informed decisions.
Nellie also understood the importance of Alaska Native representation in the journalism workforce. She believed a critical part of preserving Native stories was hearing Native voices tell them. She accomplished this through programs such as National Native News, Native America Calling, Native Word of the Day, Independent Native News and Stories of Our People.
Mentoring young Alaska Native people was a big part of her life. She was passionate about elevating youth perspectives and helping them understand the power of journalism to shine light on injustice and hold those in power, accountable.
She also provided comprehensive, award-winning statewide coverage of the AFN conferences and countless other gatherings of Indigenous leaders.
Transparent, ethical journalism and respectful treatment of all people who found themselves in news stories was always Nellie’s standard.
She covered important issues affecting Alaska Native and Native American cultures and communities for more than 44 years, through her TV and radio work. And she was recognized for that work with awards from the Alaska Press Club, the Native American Journalists Association, the Indigenous Journalist’s Association and more.
Even Alaska’s ubiquitous ravens would answer her when she called out to them, seeming to realize she was a voice that could be trusted and included in raven discussions. She was deeply connected to her Inupiaq culture and deftly moved between engaging in traditions like berry picking and sewing Atikluks, beaver hats and gloves for family and friends to effectively reporting the top news of the day or speaking at national gatherings of journalists from across the country. She was committed to mentoring the next generation of Native journalists, building on the admiration and respect she had for the mentors who helped shape her own work.
Nellie’s mother, Ada Ward, instilled the Inupiaq values of hard work and caring for community, someone who kept a sack of pancake mix on hand to feed stranded travelers at a moment’s notice.
Nellie learned the technical side of radio from her Dad, Ed Ward who came to Kotzebue as an FAA flight service specialist. In a 2016 interview on the statewide public radio program, Talk of Alaska, Nellie described her dad as a man who was ‘crazy’ about radio and kept a big stash of electronic parts in their home. As a teenager, Moore earned her First-Class Radio Operator’s license and learned to use the Morse code to communicate over the radio.
She developed her interest in writing by contributing to the high school newspaper, all a good foundation to get KOTZ Radio off the ground. Later she helped to found OTZ, Kotzebue’s first telephone cooperative.
Her early work managing the KOTZ newsroom elevated Alaska Native stories when little to no attention was paid to Native issues in the media.
She was dedicated and fearless about telling the truth, often setting the record straight on Alaska Native people, their rights and culture.
The reach and effectiveness of her work, both in Alaska and across the nation as the host and producer of National Native News and then Independent Native News made her a journalist of great prominence.
People would often stop her in public and smile as they repeated her well known signoff – “I’m Nellie Moore.” She handled this celebrity with humility and even people who were in awe of her national, award winning work, were immediately at ease when talking to her.
Nellie loved her family immensely and even in her busy life as a national news program host made time for the people she loved.
She made sure humor was always part of the newsroom ethic, instructing young journalists that deadlines and accuracy are important and should be taken seriously, but we should never take ourselves too seriously, helping people decompress from the often hectic and sometimes harrowing news cycle so they could face the next big story.
She is survived by her brother Ed Ward jr; sister Lenora Ward; husband Greg Moore; son David Moore and daughter Elizabeth Cravalho; and grandchildren Dylan, Blair and Alika.
Her work was honored by the Alaska Press Club’s Public Service Award in 1984 and 1986; The Native American Journalist Association’s Wassaja Award in 2001; the University of Oregon’s Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism also in 2001. She was posthumously awarded the Alaska Press Club’s First Amendment Award and the 2024 Indigenous Journalists Association-Medill Milestone Achievement Award.
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