2021 ONAYLF is VIRTUAL!
Nahwee! Welcome to the 18th Annual Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair. This year the fair is completely online. We are so excited to share the hard work of all our participants with you!
You can browse all the entries for the fair on our new official YouTube channel here.
To see a full list of the PreK-5th grade winners, click here.
To see a full list of the 6th-12th grade winners, click here.
To see the full program, click here.
How to browse our YouTube channel:
At the top of the “Home” page, you will see the introductory video to this year’s Fair. In the introductory video, you will hear our speakers Freddie Lewis and Melanie Frye talk about their language journeys. It includes an opening prayer from Christine Armer (Cherokee), a welcome by our director Raina Heaton and short contributions from our partners, OU Native American Studies (Raymond Orr, Citizen Potawatomi) and the OU Native Nations Center (Brian Burkhart, Cherokee). We have also made a short video thanking our sponsors, accessible on the channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=344VNoksJCk. Yakoke!
Below the introductory video, you can browse all of the fair submissions. They are grouped together by category (so all Traditional Song submissions together, all Film & Video submissions together, etc.). From there, each category is organized as a playlist, labeled by age group and category. Posters and comics have been put into slideshows by age group so that you don’t have to navigate through hundreds of individual videos.
If you click on any of the playlists on the main page, it will automatically play through all of the entries in that category. To go back to the list of playlists, you can click the back button, an arrow pointing to the left, on the upper righthand corner of your window. If you are watching the video on a mobile device, you can exit the video by swiping down with your finger, and then tap the back button on the upper righthand corner of your screen. The winners of each category have a ribbon decal on the video and also 1st/2nd/3rd/Honorable Mention in the title of each video.
If you’d like to search for a particular performance, you can use the search box (indicated by a magnifying glass and the word “Search” at the top, to the right of “About”) to search for any performance by title. If you are looking for a particular comic or poster, you’ll need to navigate to the video for either Comics & Cartoons or Posters for the right age group, and then skip through the video until you find the poster/comic you are looking for.
Please feel free to leave messages of encouragement to the young people in the comments section of the videos!
The ONAYLF staff would like to extend their gratitude to the Fair’s participants, our judges, and our sponsors, and we look forward to hopefully hosting an in-person event next year!
Note: We have no control over what plays automatically after you finish watching a video/playlist; please keep this in mind as you watch through everything with your families.
2021 Hymn Singing
Join us for a virtual hymn singing!
Time: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m
Date: April 13
Register for the event here.
2021 Fair Guest Speakers
We are delighted to announce our guest speakers for the 2020 Fair: Freddie Lewis and Melanie Frye.
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Freddie Lewis is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and has been a Choctaw Language Instructor at the University of Oklahoma for over six years. He teaches beginning and intermediate Choctaw language classes in the Native American Studies department, and is also a Community Teacher accredited by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Freddie is a leader in his community, both as an established song leader of Choctaw language Tribal Hymns and as the current interim president of the Oklahoma Choctaw Tribal Alliance. Freddie Lewis is married to Leandra Lewis, and they have a daughter Cara Lewis, who is herself a past participant in ONALYF for the Choctaw language. Freddie is also a descendent of Tobias Frazier (August 7th, 1892 — November 22, 1975) who was Choctaw Code Talker during WWII and served as a member of the 142nd Infantry, Company E. Freddie is also an avid sports fan, and loves both watching and coaching when he’s not teaching Choctaw. |
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Ms. Melanie Frye is Muscogee (Creek). She holds a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Native American Studies and is currently working on her Master’s in Native American Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Her passion is to continue working in the revitalization and perpetuation of the Mvskoke (Creek/Seminole) language. She considers it a blessing to be able to work with and learn Mvskoke. She is also the Mvskoke Creek/Seminole language instructor at the University of Oklahoma. Melanie has recently presented at the Newberry Consortium in American Indian Studies (NCAIS) Graduate Conference in Chicago. She will also be presenting at the Symposium for American Indian Languages in Tucson in April.
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