The Kitikmeot Heritage Society has received the 2025 Community Nominated Award from the Annauma Community Foundation, along with a $100,000 grant. Nunavummiut put forward nominations for this honour, and the Cambridge Bay based society was selected as this year’s recipient.
The organization plans to use the funding to support staff training, update internal policies and continue developing its new Kuugalaaq campus. The goal is to offer stronger services that help preserve and strengthen Inuinnait culture and language.
The society works to protect Inuinnait traditions through programs such as a language podcast, kamiik making workshops, youth sessions and land based activities. Annauma’s board chair, Udloriak (Udlu) Hanson, noted that the society was chosen for its dedication to revitalizing the Inuinnaqtun language and its focus on Inuit knowledge and values while addressing community needs.
The society’s work centres on the Inuinnait people of the Kitikmeot region, whose language, Inuinnaqtun, has fewer than 500 speakers. In Inuinnaqtun, the organization is known as Pitquhirnikkut Ilihautiniq.
This is the second year the Community Nominated Award has been presented, with nominations set to reopen in June. The award is reserved for charities and non profits. Annauma is short for Annaumakkaijiit, meaning helping people to stay ahead in Inuktitut.
