Each year, the Stanford Storytelling Project awards Braden Grants to support the research, writing, and production of audio documentaries. The aim of the program is to help students learn how to tell powerful, research-driven stories based on testimony they gather through interviews, research, or oral history archives. Grantees receive up to $2,500, along with teaching, training, and mentorship for the duration of the project.

Here's what the 2023 Grantees had to say about their experience.

How Patsy Cline shifted the country music industry--and a whole country's idea of femininity.

"New Flowers" explores the history of Addis Ababa's Piassa's neighborhood: its birth, destruction, and what sense of home remains.

Includes interviews with Paul Buddenhagen, Sine Berhanu, Messay Gesesse

Climbers modify the rock to climb safely, leaving permanent anchors for catching falls. This was not always the practice, and its early implementation lead to a period of conflict in the climbing community when ethics were in flux. Climbing has solved this dilemma, and can show the world how to walk reframe the line between environmental sustainability and land use. 

Name and title of interviewees:

Dan Earhart, MS, Climbing Coordinator, Stanford University

Jane Willenbring, PhD, Professor of Earth and Planetary Systems, Stanford University

Hugh Driscol, Principal and founder of Chord Architecture in Santa Fe New Mexico

Emma Harrison, PhD, Environmental Scientist, advocate.

Rupesh Chhugan TCMP, CHP, Hakomi practitioner.

Music Attribution (In order of appearance)

Setting Pace by Blue Dot Sessions

Road to Petersby by Blue Dot Sessions

Hanging Rock by Blue Dot Sessions

Bauxite by Blue Dot Sessions

KeoKeo by Blue Dot Sessions

Evol Triumph by Blue Dot Sessions

Capstone by Blue Dot Sessions

Set the Tip Jar by Blue Dot Sessions

What does it mean to come face to face with failure as a student at an 'elite' school? What advice do alumni, advisors, and professionals have to share about wellness, academic competition, and perfectionism? And is there a secret to surviving in today's age of a dangerous productivity culture? Can you come back from burnout? Tune in :)

In this story about connection outside the bounds of physical space, time, and life experience, an unlikely friendship buds during uncertain times.