Hawai‘i Public Seed Initiative

June 12, 2015 (Hawai‘i Public Radio)—The Hawaiʻi Public Seed Initiative aims to improve, increase, and promote biodiversity of crops across the state. By working with local communities, farmers, and gardeners, the Initiative aims to grow, harvest, store, and improve the very best seeds that thrive in Hawaiʻi.
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Three Hawai‘i photographers set out to capture Kohala

June 5, 2015 (Big Island Video News)—A three-year photography project involving three well known Hawaii photographers is set to get underway in the native forests of North Hawaii. The Kohala Watershed Partnership, a sponsored program of The Kohala Center, recently received funding to undertake Images of Kohala: Source of Water, Source of Life in order to capture images “from some of the wildest and least accessible locations on Kohala Mountain.”
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Beamer spoke with Hawai‘i Public Radio reporter Noe Tanigawa at ‘Iolani Palace to discuss his book and the historical and contemporary attributes of Hawaiian leadership. (Photo courtesy Michael Young/Kamehameha Schools)

Kamanamaikalani Beamer: Uniquely Hawaiian Leadership

kamana_noetanigawaJune 3, 2015 (Hawai‘i Public Radio)—The Hawai‘i Book Publishers Association has presented the Samuel Kamakau Book of the Year Award to Dr. Kamanamaikalani Beamer, the new president and CEO of the influential Kohala Center in Waimea. Looking ahead to Kamehameha Day, HPR’s Noe Tanigawa offers this look at Beamer’s ideas about Hawaiian leadership.
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Kohala Center president receives Hawai‘i book award

May 15, 2015 (MauiNow.com)—The president and CEO of The Kohala Center, Dr. Kamanamaikalani Beamer, received the Samuel M. Kamakau Book of the Year Award for No Makou ka Mana: Liberating the Nation at the 2015 Ka Palapala Po‘okela Awards presented by the Hawai‘i Book Publishers Association.
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The Kohala Center names VP of advancement, innovation

May 12, 2015 (BigIslandNow.com)—The Kohala Center has named a new vice president of advancement and innovation. Keawe Liu, a longtime resident of Waimea, will take over the role on July 1 for the community-based non-profit organization.
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Big Island a model for farm-to-school efforts

May 10, 2015 (Hawaii Tribune Herald)—At Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School, kids get excited about purple carrots. Purple carrots are attention-grabbers, so in a sense this is unsurprising. But at the charter school there’s an extra element of thrill. Laupahoehoe’s students are involved in every aspect of growing the veggies, from planting tiny seeds in the school garden to harvesting crunchy snacks. The purple carrots are all their own.
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Outside Hawai‘i, Episode 1

May 9, 2015—Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center’s efforts to educate visitors, residents, and keiki (children) on how to care for Hawai‘i’s critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals are featured in the inaugural episode of this new broadcast series.
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Mobile slaughterhouse coming to island

May 8, 2015 (West Hawaii Today)—With 83 percent of its beef and a whopping 95 percent of its pork, lamb and goat products being imported, Hawai‘i Island’s meat production is a long way off from the ideals of the sustainability movement.
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Student mural takes on life of its own

May 5, 2015 (West Hawaii Today)—Five enthusiastic students at Kahakai Elementary School stood in front of a large mural where hand-painted pictures of monk seals shined on a 4-foot by 8-foot canvass behind them. The young scholars spent more than two months crafting the drawings of the endangered species and joyfully expressed their knowledge and pride of the animal and a mural that has taken on a life of its own.
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Cream of the crop: An engaging view of Hawaii’s history and monarchy is honored as the year’s best book

NoMakouKa-Mana_CoverMay 3, 2015 (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)—“No Makou ka Mana: Liberating the Nation,” by Kamanamaikalani Beamer, a re-seeing of Hawaii history and the role of alii from an indigenous perspective, has won the Samuel M. Kamakau Award for book of the year, bestowed by the Hawai‘i Book Publishers Association at its annual awards ceremony April 23.

The judges called Beamer’s book “one of those rare texts that could leave even the most jaded of readers feeling like a seemingly immovable tide might actually be turning.”

“No Makou ka Mana” also won in the Hawaiian language, culture and history category, and received an honorable mention for nonfiction.

»Read the full article

»Watch the post-award interview with Dr. Kamanamaikalani Beamer

»Listen to an interview with Hawai‘i Public Radio’s Noe Tanigawa (Hawai‘i Public Radio, June 3, 2015)

»Read “Storied landscapes: An understanding of place defines this year’s Hawai‘i Book & Music Festival” (Honolulu Star-Advertiser, April 26, 2015)

»Buy No Mākou ka Mana: Liberating the Nation