Dana
Hedgpeth

Dana Hedgpeth is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist with more than 25 years at The Washington Post. She’s nationally recognized for her deep reporting on Indigenous communities and local and national issues. As the only Native American journalist in The Post’s 900-person newsroom, she brings a unique perspective, access and authority to her work.

 

For 18 months, Dana served as a lead reporter on a 60-person investigative team that gave the fullest account yet of the widespread sexual abuse and for the first time uncovered more than 3,100 deaths of Native American children at U.S. government- and church-run boarding schools.

 

The multi-part series won six national awards and generated millions of readers, comments and social media shares. It also helped prompt historic apologies from a leading Catholic bishops’ group and a presidential apology for the trauma caused by boarding schools.

 

Dana is known for earning the trust of tribal leaders, communities, and government officials. Her immersive reporting has taken her to remote sacred lands, major disaster zones, and the front lines of breaking news.

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A compelling writer, editor, and producer, Dana specializes in translating complex issues across a range of subjects into compelling narratives.

 

She is known for her calm leadership, sharp judgment and ability to deliver under pressure. Dana is a longtime member and former board leader of the Indigenous Journalists Association (IJA) and an enrolled member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of North Carolina.