“Sacred Spaces,” a multimedia series by the Arizona Republic/azcentral.com, has won the 2021 Feddie Award from the National Press Foundation.

Reporter Debra Utacia Krol and photographer and videographer Cheryl Evans traveled to sites across Arizona and the Colorado River Valley to document the struggle by Apache, Havasupai, Mojave, Quechan and other Native peoples to access and protect important religious sites on land controlled by the federal government.

Krol and Evans accepted the award at the National Press Foundation’s annual awards dinner in Washington, D.C. on May 4, 2022.

Krol analyzed the confusing array of federal laws and regulations that open up Indigenous lands that are considered sacred to development — or desecration.

National Press Foundation judges praised the compelling presentation of an undercovered and highly complicated issue. Krol, a citizen of the Xolon Salinan Tribe from the Central California coast, has been reporting on Native issues, and the intersection of climate, culture and commerce in the Southwest.

The Feddie Reporting Award was established by the National Press Foundation in 2010 to recognize outstanding reporting about the impact of federal laws and regulations on local communities. It carries a $5,000 cash prize.

The paper’s coverage of Indigenous issues was supported by the Catena Foundation and the Water Funder Initiative.