2020 Manning Award winners announced
For more than 25 years the Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (HSA) has honoured people and groups who are part of preserving and presenting the province’s history and heritage with the Manning Awards for Excellence in the Public Presentation of Historic Places.
On July 10 the HSA announced this year’s winners, including Innu elder Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue.
Penashue, 76, is the winner of the Outstanding Heritage Supporter award, which recognizes her “great personal contributions to preserving and presenting Innu identity, culture and life,” according to a news release from the HSA, and the book she released last year, “Nitinikiau Innusi: I Keep the Land Alive,” which was translated from her personal journals and chronicles her life as an Innu woman.
“I am very, very happy and proud (to win this),” Penashue told Saltwire Network in a phone interview from her home in Sheshatshiu. “Teaching the children is very important, teaching our culture. I never want to stop.”
She said it’s extremely important to her that the Innu way of life and traditions are passed on, and she is happy that her book and her work can help keep that alive.
The awards were established in 1983 with the goal of recognizing and celebrating the work of individuals, communities,and organizations to preserve and present Newfoundland and Labrador’s history and heritage. They are named after the late Bill Manning to acknowledge his contribution to the preservation and development of provincial historic sites.
Other 2020 Manning Awards for Excellence in the Public Presentation of Historic Places winners:
• Community category — John and Peggy Fisher and Frank Lapointe for the Fishers’ Loft Inn, which preserves the architectural style and traditional building materials of Newfoundland folk architecture circa 1865 to 1920.
John and Julia Breckenridge for the restoration of Bethany United Church in Petites.
• Provincial Category — Labrador Straits Historical Development Corp. for 35 years of preserving and presenting the heritage of the Labrador Straits.
Port de Grave Peninsula Heritage Society Inc. for developing a master plan of consolidated heritage initiatives for the area.
• National Category — O’brien Farm Foundation for protecting the O’brien Farm’s 31 acres of land and by undertaking the restoration of Thimble Cottage into a multi-use programming space.