2025 Grant Awards
Statewide Organizations
Montana Broadcasters Association—$45,000
The 63rd EB awards were a great success. There were 347 attendees, with a 9% increase from last year. The awards were held in Great Falls and Montana PBS did an excellent job of helping to produce the show. We increased the number of Television Judges this year due to the number of entries. The “EBs” are named in honor of Montana broadcast pioneer Edmund B. Craney, founder of the Greater Montana Foundation. These prestigious awards are presented annually during the Montana Broadcasters Association annual convention.
Montana Free Press—$20,000
To support this award-winning not-for-profit Montana digital, text and multimedia news organization, providing distribution to Montana news outlets for free re-publication, this grant will support the “broadcast expansion,” providing MTFP journalism to broadcast stations across Montana.
Montana PBS—$35,000
Montana Public Radio enriches the mind and spirit, inspires a lifetime of learning and connects communities through exceptional programming. This grant supports various radio, online and streaming programming including statewide news and analysis, economic and legislative reporting, MTPR’s weekly literary program, The Write Question, The Big Why, a program that seeks to answer questions from the Big Sky, and a wide variety of information and cultural programming that represents the unique character of Montana.
Montana Public Radio—$25,000
Montana Public Radio enriches the mind and spirit, inspires a lifetime of learning and connects communities through exceptional programming. This grant supports various radio, online and streaming programming including statewide news and analysis, economic and legislative reporting, MTPR’s weekly literary program, The Write Question, The Big Why, a program that seeks to answer questions from the Big Sky, and a wide variety of information and cultural programming that represents the unique character of Montana.
Augusta
Big Cedar Media/Benchmark Wrestling—$20,000
On the verge of resurrecting his late father's used car dealership building into a world class amateur wrestling club and center of excellence in the small town of Augusta, MT, former Olympic wrestler turned coach, Mike Zadick, remembers lessons learned from his most pivotal wrestling matches. When complications arise to the building project, Mike must dig deep into those attributes taught to him by his wrestling coach father, or else his dream to create a thriving community that coaches the next generation of Montana leaders won't be achieved.
Billings
The Friends of the Montana Constitution—$8,000
The Friends of the Montana Constitution will produce and air video and audio PSA spots (varying in length from 6 seconds to 60 seconds) about Montana's Constitution in a "Did you know?" format. Starting with 5-6 different spots, these civics education PSAs will run statewide on all possible media platforms (commercial & non-profit - some paid and some at no cost) to alert and educate Montana voters of the strengths of Montana's Constitution.
Friends of Yellowstone Public Radio—$10,000
Yellowstone Public Radio will use this funding to help pay freelance journalists for stories across our listening area that will enhance and expand YPR's resources for a greater depth of journalism in the region. It will also allow YPR to broaden awareness for our local and regional news and community programs through more effective marketing and branding of these programs.
Western Heritage Center—$4,000
Equally Different: Uncovering the History of Disability in Montana is to provide human interest stories which reflect how Montanans living with disabilities have experienced innovative solutions and services while simultaneously experiencing disenfranchisement over the years.
Western Native Voice—$15,000
The program aims to empower Native youth by producing a film highlighting issues affecting Montana's Indigenous communities. Through storytelling and digital media, the project will amplify youth voices in addiction and educate the broader public on key issues surrounding addiction.
Bozeman
The Extreme History Project—$10,000
Episode 3 of The Story of Us: The Women Who Shaped Montana spotlights three remarkable women whose courage and resilience left indelible marks on the state’s heritage. Fannie Sperry Steele defied early 20th century gender norms by riding unrestrained broncs and earning accolades like”Lady Bucking Horse Champion of the World” at the 1912 Calgary Stampede. Ella Knowles Haskell overcame barriers in law and politics, becoming Montana’s first female lawyer and notary public, lobbying the legislature to admit women to the bar, arguing cases before federal courts and mounting a historic run for state Attorney General all before Montana women had voting rights. Nancy Cooper Russell played a pivotal role in promoting the legacy of her husband, Western artist Charles M. Russell, by managing his career, curating his works, and ensuring his lasting influence on American art history.
The Montana Sessions—$20,000
The Montana Sessions is an Emmy-winning live music series that features some of Montana's premier musicians in breathtaking landscapes across the state. With the latest rele3ase of the fifth season, the purpose of this series is to capture a variety of musical genres and performances that reflect Montana's values, history, and trends. Whether it's the mountains of western Montana to the state's eastern plains, the same thing rings true: there is immeasurable love and talent for the art, and Montana, in front of and behind the camera.
Hamilton
MAPS Media Institute—$25,000
MAPS Media Institute is an Emmy Award-winning Montana educational nonprofit established in 2004 to empower, inspire, and prepare Montana's next generation through professional media arts instruction, engaging community service, and compassionate mentoring. Operating year round brick-and-mortar studios in Ravalli and Lewis & Clark Counties and the Fort Belknap Indian Community, they provide free programming to youth in grades 8-12 and special workshops for ages 18-24. Students work with professional teaching artists to learn filmmaking, podcasting, design, and digital storytelling through authentic community-based projects, building the communication, technical, creative, and soft skills they need for future success.
MAPS Fort Belknap Community Initiative—$25,000
MAPS Fort Belknap, the third year-round program site of the MAPS Media Institute, is a free media arts education program serving youth ages 13–24 from the Fort Belknap Indian Community. It provides professional instruction in film, graphic design, podcasts, music production, and emerging technologies. The program integrates traditional knowledge and language with 21st-century creative tools through classes co-designed with cultural leaders from both the Aaniiih (Gros Ventre) and Nakoda (Assiniboine) tribes, creating a safe space where students can express themselves, explore their identities, and build confidence and communication skills through storytelling. More than a media arts studio, MAPS Fort Belknap strengthens intergenerational connections through collaborative projects with elders, community members, and families while preparing young people to help shape their communities and futures.
Helena
Simulation In Motion - Montana—$10,000
Simulation in Motion Montana proposes a powerful and timely documentary project: a visual storytelling series that reveals the often-invisible crisis facing rural EMS providers across Montana. While most Montanans assume that emergency medical services are guaranteed with a 911 call, the reality is far more fragile. In Montana, EMS is not classified as an essential service, unlike fire or law enforcement. Many local EMS agencies, staffed by aging volunteers, operate on shoestring budgets, relying on bake sales, billing reimbursements, and sheer grit.
Cramer Productions/Mineral County Historical Society and Museum—$10,000
The project is the production of a 56-minute video about Taft, Montana during its explosive existence from 1906 to 1910, and the thousands of people who took part in the building of the last 38 miles of the Milwaukee Railroad through the challenging terrain between Haugan, Montana and Avery, Idaho. This documentary will elicit discussion and further study about the many facets of the Taft story. Unforgettable personalities, including corporate giants, doctors, sheriffs, engineers and common laborers, not to mention bartenders, prostitutes, teamsters and others who constituted a bustling part of Montana’s history which became an important, but largely unknown segment of America’s history.
Kalispell
Code Girls United—$3,000
The project will expand our Code Girls On Air Podcast to Bozeman. The purpose of the podcast is to create content by interviewing female technology, business professionals, and students in Montana. The interviewees describe their background and career information including reasons for their chosen field, details about their work, and information about their career start. Their industry is discussed along with details about their current job, and finally ends with advice for those entering the field with resources that are available to encourage and help those interested in that career.
Missoula
University of Montana School of Journalism—$23,250
This grant was awarded to the University of Montana J-School to support various student productions and internships. The School of Journalism faculty and students produce a variety of radio, television and online programming throughout the academic year. This could include the Legislative News Service, documentary film production, The Native News Honors Project Montana PBS News Brief, Business: Made in Montana, graduate student broadcast projects or other initiatives.
Front Step CLT—$8,000
Front Step CLT is producing a documentary film that tells the powerful, multi-decade story of how a working-class Missoula neighborhood organized for the environmental cleanup and community-centered redevelopment of the former White Pine Sash lumber mill site. Once a major employer and later a contaminated Superfund site, the 40-acre property is now being transformed into a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood — featuring deeply affordable community land trust homes, market-rate housing, a public park, and commercial spaces.
Tell Us Something—$5,000
Tell Us Something is excited to bring you an evening of live storytelling! Eight storytellers will share their true personal stories without notes on the theme: “Lost and Found”.
United Way of Missoula County—$5,000
With a $5,000 budget, our production team will create a short (3-5 min) documentary focusing on one current TSOS resident who is on track to transition into secure housing. We will tell the resident’s backstory, their journey through TSOS, and their momentous achievement in earning a path to housing stability. This will be both a standalone short film and a fundraising vehicle for telling the larger TSOS story and, ultimately, for the continued existence of the TSOS itself. $500 from this grant will be used by United Way for administering the project.
The Grizzly Among Us-Rob G. Green/National Geographic Society—$25,000
The Grizzly Among Us captures a compelling moment in Montana’s story, where grizzly bears are crossing paths with humans more than ever before, testing the boundaries of our shared landscapes. Through intimate portraits of bears and people members, the film reveals how creative, cross-cultural solutions benefit all those who call Montana home, whether on two legs or on four. At its heart, this documentary illustrates that coexistence isn’t just possible—it’s essential for the resilience of both wildlife and rural communities.
Philipsburg
Philipsburg Arts Fund—$8,000
An international and award-winning Montana documentary team explores the recent rise of country music singer/songwriters moving to Big Sky country. In addition to attracting these creative new residents, the film also chronicles the dramatic economic boost the state now enjoys from concerts, music festivals, instrument manufacturing and other entertainment-related businesses.
