Indiana non-profit wins national award for campfires program

INDIANAPOLIS – A non-profit that supports arts and culture in Indiana has won a national award for its program that combines treks into nature with literature and campfire discussions.

Indiana Humanities won the Federation of State Humanities Councils’ Schwartz Prize for its Next Indiana Campfires program.

That program takes Indiana residents on hikes, bike rides and other trips across Indiana landscapes during which humanities scholars and naturalists periodically read aloud from environmental-themed literature.

The groups later gather around a campfire for a meal and conversations, particularly about environmental stewardship.

The judges who reviewed this year’s Schwartz Prize nominees called the Indiana program a “groundbreaking” effort that offers a “remarkable confluence of the humanities with the natural world.”

More than 750 people have taken part in the program over the past two years.