Al Jazeera wins three awards for its coverage of Native American topics.

The Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) has awarded Al Jazeera English News three prizes in recognition of the network’s coverage on the aftermath of a toxic spill into the Animas River in Colorado, floodings caused by oil and gas exploration on the Louisiana coast and the quest of Maine’s Passamaquoddy tribe to attain food sovereignty.

The awards were presented at the 2016 Excellence in Journalism conference in New Orleans on Tuesday.

This is the third year in a row that correspondent Shihab Rattansi and producer Anar Virji have won the awards.

“We are delighted to win another batch of awards for reports on issues that are important not just to Native Americans, but that also have a universal relevance,” said Giles Trendle, acting managing director of Al Jazeera English.

“These awards, and from such an association, further validate the editorial mission of Al Jazeera English to feature perspectives rarely heard in the mainstream media.”

Each year, NAJA honours individuals or organisations in the field of journalism for outstanding coverage of Native Americans topics.