Magis Productions, founded by noted photojournalist Jesuit Father Don Doll of Creighton University, will receive the 2010 Chief Standing Bear Organizational Award this Friday, May 14 in the Nebraska State Capitol Rotunda.

Awarded by the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, the honor recognizes Fr. Doll and his colleague Carol McCabe for their work in the field of photography, particularly portrait photography, which gives “voice to Native American peoples and promotes social justice for all.”

Members of the Kateri Drum Group of St. Augustine Indian Mission, Winnebago, Neb., will perform at the awards event.

“It’s an honor to accept this award,” said Doll who was introduced to photography when he was assigned to the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota as a young Jesuit in the late 1960s. “It’s been a privilege to make photographs that in some small way assist Native Americans in the pride they take in their heritage and their identity.”

Since 2005, Fr. Doll has photographed children of St. Augustine Indian Mission each year for the award-winning St. Augustine fine arts calendar. The 2009 St. Augustine Calendar was named the No. 1 non-profit calendar in the nation by the Calendar Marketing Association.

Each year since 1997, Fr. Doll also has photographed students of Red Cloud Indian School, Pine Ridge, S.D., for its fine arts calendar.

During the last four decades, Fr. Doll has gained international recognition for his work. He has received the Kodak Crystal Eagle Award for Impact in Photojournalism; and the Nikon “World Understanding through Photography” award. He was named 2006 Nebraska Artist of the Year by the Nebraska Arts Council.

Doll is Professor of Photojournalism at Creighton University, Omaha, where he holds the Charles and Mary Heider Endowed Jesuit Chair. His work has been featured in National Geographic magazine, and a number of Day in the Life books, including America, California, Italy, Ireland, Passage to Vietnam, Christmas in America and America at Home.

His photographs also have been published in Crying for a Vision (Morgan and Morgan Publishers) and Vision Quest: Men, Women and Sacred Sites of the Sioux Nation (Crown Publishers). The interactive Vision Quest CD-ROM features much of his work. Nebraska Public TV produced the award-winning Don Doll’s Vision Quest – available on DVD.

Doll’s work has taken him to other parts of the world. He photographed Jesuits assisting Tsunami victims in India and Sri Lanka in 2005; refugees in Burundi, Rwanda and the Congo in 2007; Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad along the Darfur border in 2008. Most recently, he photographed Jesuits working with refugees along the Thai/Burma border, in Aceh, Indonesia and East Timor.

“I photograph to tell the stories of people who have no voice. Hopefully, I can help others understand and work to change unjust social structures.”

For more information about Magis Productions at Creighton University, visit http://magis.creighton.edu/ The St. Augustine 2010 calendar photographs can be viewed 24” x 36” year-around at the Betty Strong Encounter Center, Sioux City Iowa. [Exit 149 on I-29, or http://www.siouxcitylcic.com/]