BSNC is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 Youth Awards. Shareholder Haylen Thomas Lonnie O’Connor of Nome will receive the Young Provider Award in honor of Tom Gray. Shareholder Rena Tamaak Kiyutelluk Shishmaref will receive the Youth Culture Bearer Award in honor of Rena Kuzuguk and Morris Kiyutelluk. Shareholder Brooke Anungazuk will receive the Young Leader Award in honor of Elizabeth “Betty” Anagick. These awards annually recognize young people who contribute daily to the health and well-being of their families, communities, and culture. O’Connor, Kiyutelluk and Anungazuk will be recognized during the Annual Meeting of Shareholders on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, in Nome, Alaska.
Haylen O’Connor is deeply involved in subsistence activities year-round. He shares his harvests with his family, elders, and others in the Bering Strait Region. O’Connor also shares his subsistence knowledge, much of which was passed on to him by his grandfather Tom Gray, with others by taking them hunting, fishing, and gathering. O’Connor’s commitment to continuing and passing on the subsistence traditions that are central to our way of life helps strengthen and preserve our culture for future generations.
O’Connor will be recognized in honor of his late grandfather, Tom Gray, who held a deep passion for ensuring the continuation of our people’s subsistence lifestyle and the health of our environment and subsistence resources. For many years, Gray served on several regional and statewide subsistence advisory and co-management boards. He was well known for his strong advocacy, practical voice, and honest and direct leadership.
Just as important to Gray was passing on his knowledge of traditional ways. He generously shared his time, subsistence harvests, and experience. Gray and his wife, BeeJay, hosted Native food feasts and youth and culture camps. Gray was especially passionate about and made extra efforts to provide opportunities for young people to have firsthand experiences seining, cutting fish, hunting, harvesting beluga, and processing subsistence foods. Gray’s grandson Haylen O’Connor carries that legacy forward through his own commitment to harvesting, sharing with others, and teaching others subsistence knowledge. The Young Provider Award honors Gray’s enduring example of generosity, advocacy, dedication to living from the land and waters, and ensuring those traditions continue for generations to come.
Rena “Tamaak” Kiyutelluk teaches Inupiaq at the Immersion Headstart in Shishmaref. Teaching Inupiaq to young children is foundational in carrying forward our culture. In addition to speaking and teaching Inupiaq, Tamaak has deep knowledge of the traditional way of life, and she shares the food she gathers and hunts with her family and community. She has learned much from the Elders in her family, including her grandfather, the late Morris Kiyutelluk and grandmother Mildred Kiyutelluk. She was brought up by her late great-grandmother, Rena Kuzuguk. She continues to learn traditional practices and takes opportunities through classes and by participating in Inupiaq festivals. She is currently learning to make hard-soul mukluks.
Tamaak will be recognized in honor of her late grandfather, Morris “Papa Moe” Kiyutelluk, and late great-grandmother, Rena Kuzuguk, who helped raise her and instilled in her traditional values. Morris deeply valued the traditional lifestyle and knowledge of the Kigiqtamiut Iñupiat people of Shishmaref. An oral storyteller, hunter and community leader, he generously shared his knowledge with younger generations.
He regularly took Tamaak and other youth hunting, teaching them about the land, subsistence practices and traditional values. He also helped reestablish the Shishmaref dance group in the late 1980s and shared stories with youth and community members during Shishmaref Iñupiaq Days.
Rena Kuzuguk likewise passed on cultural knowledge through everyday practice. She loved harvesting and preparing subsistence foods and shared those skills with those willing to learn. Together, Morris and Rena helped surround their family with the traditions, knowledge and values they wanted future generations to carry forward. Their influence lives on through Tamaak and her commitment to practicing, preserving and sharing her culture.
Brooke Anungazuk embodies the qualities recognized by the newly created Young Leader Award through her commitment to culture, community and service. Anungazuk practices and shares subsistence traditions, language and culture while representing her community and the Bering Strait region. In her work at Kawerak as an ERSEA (Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment and Attendance) Specialist, she works with children, families and teachers and helps ensure Native culture and language are incorporated into Nome Early Head Start classrooms. She provides teachers with resources that give young children opportunities to learn Native languages and culture from an early age.
In 2025, Anungazuk was crowned Miss Arctic Native Brotherhood and went on to compete at the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO), where she was named first runner-up and Miss Congeniality. She competed while grieving the recent loss of loved ones, including her beloved seven-year-old brother, Killian. Throughout her reign and at WEIO, Anungazuk used her platform to advocate for health and wellness, youth empowerment, Elder care and suicide prevention, grounding her message in traditional subsistence practices and cultural values.
Anungazuk will be recognized in honor of the late Elizabeth “Betty” Anagick of Unalakleet, whose life exemplified perseverance, service and a deep commitment to education and community. Anagick’s formal schooling ended after the eighth grade when she left school to help her mother care for her siblings. Determined to continue her education, she later earned her high school equivalency credential and enrolled in the University of Alaska’s distance-learning program, earning an associate degree while working as a teacher’s aide. Her dedication to education extended well beyond her own achievements as she worked to pass knowledge, cultural values and traditions to younger generations. In 2021, the Alaska Federation of Natives honored Anagick as its Elder of the Year in recognition of her commitment to education, cultural values, resilience and traditional knowledge. Her example of lifelong learning, service and cultural strength reflects the qualities the Young Leader Award seeks to recognize in emerging leaders like Anungazuk.