Announcing our Storyfest 2023 finalists!

The quality of Storyfest entries this year was absolutely inspiring. After much deliberating, we’re excited to announce the 37 finalists of this year's competition! The winner of each category will be announced at the Planet Forward Summit on April 20th. Here are our finalists:

MOST COMPELLING CHARACTER:

Radical roots: How a school garden creates dirty hands, full hearts, and hearty plates 

Halley Hughes, University of Arizona

Crow cowboys: A story of responsibility, respect and resilience

JoRee LaFrance, University of Arizona

Get Inspired with Candace Clark

Hannah Krantz & Aleena Fayaz, George Washington University

Here's what a refugee farmer grows on an urban Chicago farm

Adriana Martinez-Smiley, Northwestern University

Nebraska Sandhills hint changing tides in agriculture

Vidya Muthupillai, George Washington University

The Crisis Affecting Small Farms‚ And Their Farmers: Mental Health in Agricultural Circles

Zareen Reza, University of Connecticut

Music, mobilizing, and making a living on a living planet

Pace Schwarz, Georgetown University

Finding water on top of the world | Water issues of New Mexico

Eva Sideris, SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry

MOST CREATIVE STORY:

Indigenous plant sovereignty and Cherokee culture

Raylen Bark, Dartmouth College

Beyond the soil | Water in Colorado

Eric Forbes, Colorado State University

ModiMask: Turning used surgical masks into tote bags

Cael Parker, Virginia Commonwealth University

Piscataway Park: Reconnecting with nature for sustainability

Jing-Ning Hsu, George Washington University

Reconciliación en mi Río: Stewardship of the Santa Cruz River

Halley Hughes, University of Arizona 

Bite me: Fighting back against invasive species one course at a time

Katie Perkins, Texas Tech University

Chile’s environmental conservation can create inspiration

Carter Weinhofer, Eckerd College

The Sound of Mountains Melting: A musical meditation on emotions in a world in crisis

Chris Zatarain, University of Arizona

Best Scalable Innovation:

In Colorado, the soil beneath solar panels is ripe for growing crops

Gabe Allen & Tyler Hickman, University of Colorado Boulder

An ancient building material could be the wave of the future

Cameryn Cass, Michigan State University

Could probiotics help protect at-risk wildlife?

Anna Gibbs, New York University

Unpacking the packaging potential of mycelium, the mushroom ‘roots’ of many uses

Kala Menchetti Hunter, Northwestern University

Reinventing a sustainable crab fishery

Sachi Kitajima Mulkey, University of California, Berkeley

How Australia's Royal National Park helps preserve Aboriginal culture

Joshua Rosenstein, Middlebury College

The buzz about robotic bees

Emma Saaty, George Washington University

Prescription foods: Healthy feeding toward a better future

Owen Volk, SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry

BEST SCIENCE NARRATIVE:

My coast is toast: Remembering Hurricane Sandy and looking toward the future of climate change  

Jane Cameron, George Washington University

What’s cracking? Bird flu and its strain on egg production

Tiya Cantrell, Tuskegee University

The Tijuana River Estuary: A living laboratory

Julia Paige-Carter, Arizona State University

Solutions on the Half-Shell: Healing Florida's waters with clams

Katie Delk, University of Florida

Create change on your campus with bees, trees, and the human spirit

Eden Gardner, SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry 

With Corn Belt inching north, farm diversification gains momentum

Adam Goldstein, University of Missouri

Chernobyl, nature's laboratory

Calli McMurray, New York University

Antarctica is Collapsing – What Can We Do?

Libby Mohn, Middlebury Institute for International Studies at Monterey

BEST USE OF SCIENCE OR DATA

Perennial grains are the future of sustainable agriculture

Cassidy Hough, Michigan State University

What will our future sound like? How marine ecologists are confronting ocean sound pollution

Jonathan Kopeleovich, University of Connecticut

Indigenous energy and equations

Shondiin Mayo, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Backyards, urban farms, and community gardens across Chicago grow local produce to combat food insecurity

Astry Rodriguez, Northwestern University

Setbacks & Solutions: Agricultural Water Consumption in the Colorado River Basin

Max Sano, New York University

Congratulations to all our finalists — and a huge thank you to all the students who entered this year. Who will be our winners? Attend the Summit to find out.