Teri Greeves (Kiowa) of Santa Fe, New Mexico, was born on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming where her mother ran a trading post. After graduating from University of California, Santa Cruz, Greeves began her career as a beadwork artist, winning Best of Show at Santa Fe Indian Market in 1999. Greeves's work is included in the collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, the British Museum, the Heard Museum, the Brooklyn Art Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design, and the State of New Mexico, among others. 

A collective statement from the Awards committee notes that “Greeves’s incredible beadwork carries a heritage tradition into contemporary contexts, often straddling the realms of craft and fashion while using materials and motifs to subvert traditional structures of power. Additionally, her role as a co-curator for the powerful 2019 exhibition, The Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, at the Minneapolis Institute of Art should be duly noted as an important point in the study and appreciation of Native contemporary art.”