#SealaskaWayOfLife Contest a HUGE Success Because of YOU!
Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Sealaska hosted an inaugural #SealaskaWayOfLife photo contest, inviting our social media audience to showcase their Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian way of life. Overwhelmingly, it was clear that “our way of life” revolves around our children, traditional foods, communities, and land, oceans and waterways. At Sealaska, we directly relate with this way of life and have committed to serving the twin goals of economic prosperity and environmental protection to ensure generations are able to continue to live this way.
Throughout the four-week campaign, we received more than 630 images and, by using the hashtag #SealaskaWayOfLife, we were able to connect with more than 17,000 people! Connection to our people from across the nation was the overall purpose and primary driver of this contest, and we could not have done that without your participation. Gunalchéesh, Haw’aa, Nt’oyaxsn from everyone at Sealaska!

Some of our most cherished messages include the following:
“#SealaskaWayOfLife is teaching my son what my father taught me when I was young.” — Michael Benson
“Teaching the next generation how to bead and to make baby moccasins — #SealaskaWayOfLife.”
— Kimberly Wait-Flores
“Our way of life and when we live traditionally — we live by the seasons, harvesting beach asparagus and cutting halibut cheeks. I have taken young ones and teach them the whole process beginning to end — be it berries, fish, or deer and seal meat. My ongoing saying with teaching: You learn to harvest, process and subsist, and you will never go hungry. #SealaskaWayOfLife” — Siouxbee (Sue Ann) Lindoff
“Thank you Sealaska for keeping our people connected and being supportive.” — Vivian Demmert, #SealaskaWayOfLife finalist
“We used Charley’s gift card from the first round and bought her the book “Picking Berries.” We had to call her Grandmama to help with the Sm’algyax berry names. Thank you for organizing this!” —Rayana White, #SealaskaWayOfLife finalist
The contest had eight weekly winners and from the weekly winners, one grand prize winner received the most Facebook votes and was dubbed the #SealaskaWayOfLife winner. There were also two judge’s choice winners selected based on their representation of Our Way of Life. Prizes included gift cards to Sealaska Heritage Institute and Barnacle Foods, and a cash prize for the grand prize winner.
The grand prize winner of the contest was Jeannette Kookesh, who submitted a photo of her granddaughter Avery berry picking. “We took her out to pick with us, knowing she’d probably just eat the berries. But she was so excited to find the berries and fill her bucket. We showed her the hard-white ones and told her not to eat them. She loved every minute out there,” explained Kookesh. “It was fun to see all the photos and see what everyone was up to in their hometowns — from Elders to the babies.”

“To me, living the Tlingit way of life is just something I’ve always done. I was taught this growing up and I taught my children and now my granddaughter is learning it as well. She loves to get her hands right into what we are doing — whether it’s working on fish, deer, berries. When we travel, we take our foods with us and cook it to eat as well because our stomachs can’t really handle fast foods. So, I guess the Tlingit way of life to me is living off the land — fishing, gathering, hunting — teaching our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews what we were taught so they can learn the process as well. And it’s not just about our foods, my children are taking a bigger step than us and they’re learning our language and they’re teaching us. They’re also learning songs from our house, our clans, learning about other clan forts, and learning their history.” — Jeannette Kookesh, #SealaskaWayOfLife grand prize winner
What made this contest a success was how uplifting, inspirational and authentic this experience was — to see how genuinely our people are living their lives. We hope to host another similar contest in the future, so make sure to continue to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
News Search
544 results found
We are excited to announce that the results of the 2025 Sealaska election have been certified and are ready to share with all of you.
Congratulations to our 2025 winners. At Sealaska, we are deeply grateful for your participation in this year’s election. Selecting exceptional leaders to help guide our shared future is one of the most meaningful ways for shareholders to engage with us. These winners were randomly selected from the pool of early birds by the Inspectors of Election. All payments will be processed this week and delivered via the payment method on file for distributions in MySealaska.com.
We are continuing our search for a dynamic and visionary leader to serve as Sealaska’s president. It is important that we find the right candidate to fill this position, which is why the Sealaska board of directors is being as exacting as possible as we search for a candidate capable of amplifying the impact of our mission and providing benefits that empower our shareholders. To this end, the Sealaska board of directors recently revised the job description for the position of president and sought the assistance of a professional recruiting firm. Our hope is to announce a successful candidate as our new president this coming summer.
After considering the recently announced U.S. Postal Service delays to First-Class Mail in conjunction with a paper proxy error leading shareholders who wish to vote by mail to potentially wait for their regularly scheduled second proxy mailing, we have made the decision to extend the early bird deadline to June 6. We are listening to shareholders and want to give everyone the best chance to qualify as an early bird. Thank you for understanding and thank you for voting.
Shareholders, an error occurred when printing proxy cards regarding the number of shares you own and votes you have in the top right corner of your proxy card. This error does not affect the validity of your paper proxy, nor does it affect voting on MySealaska.com through the Election Connection portal
Early birds, it’s your time to fly! Congratulations to our 2024 winners.
Sealaska shareholders are invited to join us at our upcoming in-person and virtual community meetings to learn more about Sealaska business operations, upcoming opportunities and connect with fellow shareholders and descendants.
Sealaska shareholders are now able to view and download their IRS Form 1099-DIV for 2023. Printed 1099 tax forms will be mailed on or before Jan. 26.
Film is a mirror: Sealaska shareholder descendant Miciana Hutcherson reflects on Black History Month
Sealaska shareholders are now able to view and download their IRS Form 1099-DIV for 2022. Printed 1099 tax forms will be mailed on or before Jan. 27.
What Are Shareholders Saying? How does blood quantum impact your life?We asked this simple question and more than 600 shareholders answered, so far. Below are a few of the perspectives we shared via our social channels. Some of these posts you will love. Some you may not. Sealaska has not taking a position, we are …