On behalf of the Brimstone Award Committee, we would like to announce the winners of the 2007 Brimstone Award!  While the initial intention was to provide a grant for only one project, awards are being given this year to four applicants for $5,000 each, because of the extraordinary merit of these projects.

Recipients:

Steve Evans - $5,000.00

Project Title: “Using Storytelling to Promote ‘Gross National Happiness’ in the Royal Kingdom of Bhutan.”

Brief Synopsis: Evans serves as a research intern with the Centre for Bhutan Studies, located in Thimphu, Bhutan, where he is assisting the royal government to explore ways for traditional oral communication forms to influence the morals and values of the kingdom’s people.

Evans says about his grant project, “The term Gross National Happiness (GNH) was coined by Bhutan's former king in 1972. It signaled his commitment to building an economy that would serve Bhutan's unique culture. GNH was positioned against the U.N.’s Human Development Index after the country began facing increasing globalization, materialism and challenges to its traditional values by an encroaching western media and economy. The country’s current king is committed to fulfilling the vision of GNH.

The global community was invited to assist Bhutan achieve GNH through four platforms: economic development, environmental preservation, cultural promotion, and good governance. In 2004, I presented a paper to the government titled: ‘Tears and Laughter: Promoting Gross National Happiness through the Rich Oral Traditions and Heritage of Bhutan.’ I outlined a plan for using storytelling to promote ‘Gross National Happiness.’ It was accepted in principle and steps were taken to carry it out.

  Suzanne Gurton - $5,000.00 

Project Title: "Sharing the Skies: Stories and Activities for Museum and Nature Center Educators" 

Brief Synopsis:

Merna Ann Hecht - $5,000.00 

Project Title: “Telling Traditions: Stories and Poetry that Build Bridges across the River of Loss to the Places of Acceptance.”

Brief Synopsis:

Hecht will be working with the Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Health Center, funded by the Mary Bridge Foundation, United Way, City of Tacoma and other grants. 

The BRIDGES mission is that no child will grieve alone.

BRIDGES is a nationally known grief support program designed for families with children ages 4-18 who have experienced the death of a parent or the death of a sibling. Since its opening in 1988, over 1,000 children have attended grief support groups learning to cope with their feelings and learning to live in the world without this significant relationship. Children meet in age appropriate groupings, while their parents meet in concurrent adult groups. BRIDGES is the only program in the region that provides specialized support groups for children who have experienced the suicide or homicide of a sibling or parent. Other children served within BRIDGES have experienced losses related to illness or accidents.

Hecht says that her project “is about jumping in with the BRIDGES staff and volunteers, guiding and supporting them as they add a new approach to their work. BRIDGES is committed to embarking on learning how to best build the art of storytelling into their program. Please note, that while BRIDGES, in its twenty year history, has developed consummate skill of heart and an informed logistical practice that encompasses all of the aspects of grief work addressed in the current literature, they have not formalized integrating traditional storytelling or the practice of poetry into their program. The collaboration will involve staff training and hours of debriefing and sharing on-going journal entries. At the close of the project, we will work together to compile our notes for several case studies and to complete the book by selecting children’s work and co-writing a narrative evaluation.

Robert Wilson - $5,000.00

Project Title: "The Community Voices Against Violence and Substance Abuse Project"

Brief Synopsis: The Veterans Education Project will expand its use of storytelling in our “Understanding Violence“ prevention programs for
high-risk teenagers, collaborating with
educators and other organizations to develop new program components. We plan to:
• Recruit and train 10 to 15 storytellers with important prevention stories to share with youth, including
five to eight residents at a veterans’ homeless shelter where we recently began working.
• Provide prevention storytelling to high-risk teenagers in two high school programs and two juvenile
detention facilities (one for girls and one for boys); eight to 10 presentations per program.
• Help students to share their own oral histories for academic and prevention classes.
• Collaborate with teachers, students, and community cable t.v. and radio to record storytelling projects.
• Produce printed guidelines to (1) help organizations and schools use storytellers for prevention
programs, and (2) help storytellers craft their stories for prevention programs.