Marcus Amerman (Choctaw) took the $5,000 Best of Show cash prize at the recent inaugural Cherokee Art Market in Tulsa for his stunning beaded floral vest.

Topping the award winners at the Intertribal Arts Marketplace, held Nov. 3–5 at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, was Alvin John (Diné), who took the Jackie Autry Purchase Prize for his steel sculpture of a Navajo couple. Other major award winners: Cliffton L. Aguilar (Santo Domingo Pueblo), jewelry, with a red spiny oyster shell necklace with silver boxes set with mini-shells; Samuel Manymules (Diné), pottery, with a wood pit-fired water jar glazed with piñon tree sap glaze; Michael Horse (Yaqui/Zuni/Mescalero Apache), painting, with a ledger-style work in earth paints on elk skin; Evelyn Fredericks (Hopi), sculpture and carving, for a bronze basket dancer; Betty David (Spokane Tribe of Indians), textiles and basketry, for her white chilkat jacket with black lambskin fur; and Frank Mirabal (Taos Pueblo), other art forms, for his large drum made from 100-year-old cottonwood with elk hide.

Andrew Conseen Duff (Eastern Band Cherokee) has been elected to a three-year term as chairman of the board of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, following up on his first successful year directing the notable nonprofit organization.

New Mexico sculptor Oreland C. Joe  (Ute/Navajo) has received the prestigious annual Prix de West Purchase Award from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City for his marble work “Buffalo Sunrise,” which depicts a mature woman praying with an eagle-feather fan.

Margaret Dosedo (Zuni) has been awarded the Spirit of the Heard Award from the Heard Museum in Phoenix for her position as a role model, her efforts to preserve cultural practices and her work with the tribe’s elderly—particularly her creation of the Zuni Senior Center.
Dr. Kelly Moore (Muscogee Creek) of Albuquerque has been selected as the 2006 Indian Physician of the Year by the Association of American Indian Physicians for his work in diabetes with the Indian Health Service.

The Navajo Nation Lady Cats of Gallup, New Mexico and the SBT Shockwave boys’ team from Lapwai, Idaho won the championship games at the July 2006 Native American Basketball Tournament in Phoenix, which drew more than 60 teams this year.

Missy Gullet (Iowa), owner of Missy’s Pet Spa in Palm Desert, California, took the People’s Choice Award at the recent creative competition of the Groom & Kennel Expo in California for her amazing lifelike trim job resembling a buffalo on a chocolate standard poodle.