Donovan Quintero

Reporter, Navajo Times

Donovan Quintero was born on the Navajo Reservation. He has worked as a freelancer and staffer, for the Navajo Times newspaper in Window Rock, Arizona. Quintero is the recipient of the 2019 and 2020 Nina Mason Pullman Environmental Journalism Awards for his reporting on early snowmelt to fire management. The 2019 Nina Mason Pulliam award earned Quintero a chance to attend the Society of Enviromental Journalists conference in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he met like-minded journalists dedicated to reporting on environmental issues.

In 2020, he decided to vie to become a board member and threw his hat into the mix. He was voted in by fellow members, which he now serves, both as a board member and as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee Chair. “The vastness of the Navajo Nation has shaped my traditional beliefs and my philosophies as a Diné. I do my best to incorporate them into my photographing and especially, my writing. I believe one person can make a difference, can influence society to change for the better, and that motivates me. Shi Dine’é, my people, have something to say and show the world, and I am the podium for them,” Quintero said. He has been covering the impacts of COVID-19 on the Navajo reservation since March 2020.