Descutner-Burnier Awards

Founded in 2010 in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival has grown into one of the nation’s most respected community-based documentary film festivals, using the power of nonfiction storytelling to foster dialogue, civic engagement and public understanding.

Established by Mary Ann Quinn Ponce in honor of her late son, filmmaker David Ponce, the festival has distinguished itself through its strong emphasis on humanities-centered programming. Rather than simply screening films, the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival creates spaces for filmmaker discussions and panel conversations around issues including human rights, race, immigration, health, the environment, war, democracy, education and social justice.

Founded in Cincinnati in 1986 by the Taft Museum of Art and the Robert S. Duncanson Society, the Duncanson Artist-in-Residence Program is one of the nation’s longest-running and most respected artist residency programs dedicated to celebrating and elevating contemporary Black artists across disciplines including literature, visual art, music, performance, dance, culinary arts and community-based practice.

Established in honor of 19th-century painter Robert S. Duncanson—the first internationally acclaimed Black American artist—the program connects contemporary artistic practice with Cincinnati’s rich cultural and abolitionist history, including Duncanson’s landmark murals housed within the Taft Museum itself.

Urban Appalachians have been called an invisible minority despite their many contributions not only to the greater Cincinnati region and its culture but also to all of Ohio. Appalachian scholars have recognized researchers in the Cincinnati area as authorities on urban Appalachians for decades, but what has been less documented and celebrated are the narratives of the migrants and their descendants regarding what it took to leave their home places and settle in a new area, often in the face of hardship and struggle.

The Kith & Kin Project of the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition seeks to help fill that gap by comprehensive story gathering throughout the greater Cincinnati area and beyond. This project consists of ongoing work with the Cincinnati/Hamilton Co. Public Library, A Picture’s Worth, Talkington Media and other community organizations to collect, publicize and share the stories through exhibits, cultural celebrations and events, and a short documentary film.

The Art of Domesticity exhibition, which was shown at the Allen County Museum in Lima from August through October 2024, explored the intersection of gender, craft and artistic expression through historical artifacts and contemporary art. Drawing from the museum’s permanent collection alongside works by five contemporary female artists, the exhibition examined how traditionally “domestic” art forms—including quilting, weaving, knitting, porcelain painting, needlework and embroidery—have long served as both creative outlets and cultural records for women.

The exhibition challenged distinctions between “decorative arts” and “fine art” while highlighting the often-overlooked artistic labor embedded in domestic life. It was accompanied by a robust series of educational programs designed to deepen public engagement with women’s history, craft traditions and material culture.

Little Cities Day is an annual, multi-site festival in Perry County celebrating the rich labor, cultural and community history of southeastern Ohio’s coal region, known as the Little Cities of Black Diamonds. The event brings together residents, historians, artists and visitors for a day of immersive public history and cultural programming, from talks to live musical performances. It highlights the legacy of coal mining communities that once fueled Ohio’s industrial growth while also serving as important sites of labor activism, immigration and racial diversity.

Rendville, in particular—one of the sites of the most recent Little Cities Day—holds national significance as one of the few late 19th- and early 20th-century mining towns in the United States where Black and white workers lived and labored together with a level of equity uncommon for the era.

Teaching Cleveland Foundation’s On Our Watch is an initiative designed to expand access to and deepen engagement with the documentary film “A Death in the City: In the Wake of Segregation,” written and directed by Marquette Williams and produced by iFILM216. The 70-minute film brings to life the stories of those who fought for—and those most directly impacted by—the desegregation of Cleveland’s public schools in the 1960s, offering a powerful and deeply human account of a pivotal moment in the city’s history.

On Our Watch extends the impact of the film through a coordinated effort to bring it into classrooms, community spaces and public forums across the region.

History Detectives of Belmont County: Uncovering the Ohio Valley is a dynamic, multi-platform educational initiative that explores the rich and complex history of the Ohio Valley through a series of interconnected themes, including transportation; enslavement and the Underground Railroad; Black history; Indigenous histories and migration; industry and immigration; the Revolutionary War; and the region’s cultural contributions to film, sports and literature.

The project features a series of documentary-style videos that bring these stories to life through the voices of local historians, subject-matter experts and students from Ohio University Eastern, creating an intergenerational and community-driven approach to storytelling. These videos are complemented by an interactive digital map, a printed brochure and community-based programs.

“Stomping Freedom” is a roughly 45-minute documentary film project that examines the problematic theatrical representation of American Indian history that was prevalent in the late 20th century, while re-centering that history through Indigenous perspectives.

Developed by Xenia’s Caesar’s Ford Theatre in partnership with tribal collaborators, the project completes a film series initiated in 2021. It faced significant delays when Ohio Humanities was forced to withdraw previously committed funding following the cancellation of its federal operating grant in 2025. This disruption placed strain on carefully built relationships with tribal partners and underscored the broader challenges that Indigenous communities have long faced—particularly the legacy of promises made and broken by institutions, including the federal government. In this context, the organization’s commitment to seeing the project through to completion was especially meaningful. The completed film will be shared through screenings at regional venues, accompanied by Q&A sessions, panel discussions and other programming.

Ohio Humanities presents the Descutner-Burnier Awards for Excellence in the Humanities annually to individuals and organizations whose outstanding work has positively impacted people and communities across the state.

Each year, the Ohio Humanities Alliance honors Public Humanities Organizations based on the quality of their programs. Individual Awards are presented to Ohioans who have contributed significantly to the public humanities in Ohio throughout their careers. Nominees and winners are selected by a committee of Ohio Humanities staff, board members, and donors; nominations from the general public are not accepted.

The honored organizations and individuals each receive a cash prize.

For questions about the Awards, contact us at ohc@ohiohumanities.org.

Congressman Mike Carey | 2025 Humanities Hero

State Senator Stephanie Kunze | 2022 Humanities Hero