Volunteer Reader Instructions 2017

Overview
Thank you for being willing to help the Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling committee of the
National Storytelling Network (NSN)!

For many years, the NSN’s Brimstone Award committee has sought to recognize outstanding service
projects that apply the art of storytelling to improve the community. Your efforts will help NSN identify
potential candidates for this award.

This document serves as your instructions.

Your Assignment:
1. read these instructions.

2. complete the online Brimstone Reviewer agreement;

3. read the scoring sheet (we also recommend you read the FAQ);

4. read your assigned applications;

5. score each of your assigned applications (on a scale of 0 to 100);

6. write brief comments for each of these applications;

7. track how much time it took you to do all this;

8. make recommendations to the committee as to potential finalists by assigning a number from a 4-

point scale.

9. Email your comments from #6 along with your scores (#5) and your recommendations (#8) to the
committee chair, Tim Ereneta, no later than JUNE 1, 2017.

Statement of Values, Conflict of Interest, and Ethics

 Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling — Volunteer Readers Instructions

The National Storytelling Network is committed to treating grantseekers with fairness and respect. In
order to achieve this, volunteer readers must complete an online agreement demonstrating that you have
read these guidelines on ethics.

As a volunteer reader, you must agree to three conditions of reading and reviewing applications:

1. confidentiality,

2. disclosure of financial conflict of interest, and

3. you yourself may not submit a Brimstone application during the same cycle that you are serving
as a reviewer

Confidentiality
Keep the information in the application confidential. Applicants are entrusting their ideas and plans for
projects with the National Storytelling Network, and we aim to keep their trust.

 NSN does not publish a list of Brimstone Award applicants.

 NSN does not publicly identify members of the Brimstone Award Committee (except for the
Chair), nor does it announce the names of those serving as volunteer readers.

 Keep the names of applicants confidential.

 Keep the names of other reviewers and committee members confidential, except for the
committee chair.

Do not contact an applicant yourself to ask questions. The application must stand on its own merits.

1. But What If Need More Information?

You might think “I don’t know anything about X, I need to talk to someone.”

If you do not feel you understand a technique or a particular issue raised in an application, you may
(but are not required to) do your own research online.

You may (but are not required to) contact another knowledgeable colleague. But when doing so,
please be general, and do not refer to specifics of a grant application.

Example: an applicant wants to implement a project combining “eye movement sensitization and
reprocessing” with storytelling to treat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and
you can’t tell from the application what “eye movement sensitization and reprocessing” is, how it
works, and whether it could conceivably connect to storytelling. But you have a colleague who is a
therapist. You can ask your colleague about the technique, you can even tell your colleague why
you are asking (“I’m reviewing a grant application…”), but please refrain from disclosing the name,
location, or organization of the applicant’s project.

2. What If I Want to Make a Connection for the Applicant?

You may know another person who could be a valuable resource for the grant applicant. “These two
people have got to talk,” you might think.

However, your job as a volunteer reader is to review each application on its own merits, not to
improve a particular application or project. In this case, do not make this connection.

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 Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling — Volunteer Readers Instructions

Conflict of Interest
You may come across an application where you know the applicant personally or professionally. This is
not necessarily a conflict of interest. We trust that you will review the application on its merits and score it
fairly.

If you feel that a personal relationship with an applicant is strong enough to bias your review (e.g. a close
friend is applying for the award and there is no financial interest on your part), you may choose to
voluntarily recuse yourself.

However, if you have a potential financial stake in the application, you must disclose this as a conflict of
interest. You will be assigned a different application to read.

A financial conflict of interest exists if one of the following persons or institutions would benefit
financially should the grant be awarded:

 you, your spouse, life partner, child, parent, qualified dependent, or business partner;

 your current employer (or an organization that is considering hiring you);

 your recent (but no longer current) employer (past 12 months);

 an organization where you are a board member, director, trustee, partner, advisor, or independent
contractor;

 an organization where you are currently enrolled as a student;

 an entity with which you currently have or are seeking a financial relationship;

 an organization in which you are an active participant.

Having a financial conflict of interest needs to be disclosed so that you can be re-assigned to read a
different application.

To disclose, email: tim.ereneta@gmail.com with the name of the application. Add “Brimstone: Conflict of
Interest” to the subject line of the email.

In summary:

Personal relationship with the applicant: may disclose

Financial relationship with the applicant: must disclose

Fairness
If you feel that you cannot judge an application fairly, for any reason, you may recuse yourself from
reviewing that application. You may be re-assigned to read a different application. Email:
tim.ereneta@gmail.com with the name of the application. Add “Brimstone Recusal” to the subject line of
the email.

You do not have to explain the reason.

Compete the Brimstone Reviewer Agreement

To let us know that you are ready to begin reviewing, please fill out this online form signifying your
agreement with the above guidelines.

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 Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling — Volunteer Readers Instructions

https://goo.gl/forms/7e3i6dZA8Jw9ztun1

How to Access Proposals

Once you have completed the online agreement, you will receive permission to access applications by the
committee chair, Tim Ereneta.

Google Account
In order to access the proposals, you will need a Google account. (This is the username and
password you use to access all Google products, including YouTube and Gmail).

You do not have to use Gmail to get a Google account.

However, if you do not currently have a Google account, when you sign up for one, you get Gmail. If
you do not wish to use Gmail, add your regular email address to your Google account (How to add an
alternate email address to your Google Account).

Timeline for Review:

Complete the following tasks no later than June 1, 2017

Reading
Read each assigned application.

Scoring
Please assign a score to each proposal, on a scale of 100, and assign it to the corresponding
category (See attached Score Sheet).

You may use your own document, such as a spreadsheet, or keep handwritten scores. You
will submit a total score for each proposal. (We don’t need the details of how you arrived at the
score)

Commenting
You must provide notes (you will send them to the committee at the end). They can be
brief. They can be positive or negative. Constructive criticism is helpful.

Helpful:
“The method for sharing stories is innovative.”
“This project’s definition of storytelling is mainly focused on documentary filmmaking.”
“It is not clear to me how they would measure their success.”

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 Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling — Volunteer Readers Instructions

Not so helpful:
“I don’t like this idea.”
“This won’t work.”

At the end of the process, you will email notes to the committee.

Applicants who are not invited to submit final applications often ask NSN for feedback. Your
comments will be conveyed to applicants (with your name removed).

Track your time

Keep track of how much time you are spending on this volunteer effort.

Recommending
When you have scored and commented on all your assigned proposals, make a
recommendation to the Brimstone Award Committee. The Committee needs to narrow down this
pool of preliminary applicants to invite final applications. While you may see potential in many
applications, help the committee out. Which of the ones you read could realistically be worthy of
the top spot? Assign each application a number:

1 Strongly recommend as a potential finalist

2 Recommend as a finalist, with reservations

3 Do not recommend

4 Strongly do not recommend as a finalist;

should not have been submitted to Brimstone (it’s not focused on the
transformative properties of storytelling)

Report Back
Notify the committee chair when you have completed your work, and send via email (or a Word
document) all of the following:

 your scores for each application you read;

 your comments on each application that you read;
 your assigned category for each applicant (1, 2, 3, or 4)
 how much time you spent on this process

Send to: <tim.ereneta@gmail.com>

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 Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling — Volunteer Readers Instructions
Difficulties
This table notes some common sources of anxiety for volunteers, and
possible solutions:
What You Find
Great idea, but application full of typos,
grammatical errors, does not follow instructions
I’m not sure this project is really a fit for Brimstone
Great humanitarian idea, but doesn’t fit with
Brimstone
I have no idea what this person is attempting; I
don’t understand their project
The applicant’s definition of storytelling does not
match mine
The budget is not clear.
Scoring these applications are like comparing
apples and oranges!
(e.g. how do you compare the merits of a library
program that uses storytelling to address bullying to
a group that uses storytelling to improve civic
engagement in a town affected by a plant closure?)
I can’t review this project fairly.
What You Can Do
Score as you see fit. The care with which an
application is completed is often indicative of the
quality of work that an applicant might do.
If a question is not answered, it is fine to assign a
“0” for that component of the score.
For technical questions, please review the
Brimstone FAQ.
To help determine whether a project is a
“Brimstone” project, ask these four questions:
1. Does the project apply the art of storytelling to
another field?
2. Is the project service-oriented?
3. Is it innovative?
4. Can it serve as a model elsewhere?
You can choose to score (and mark it low); or not
assign a score and comment: “Not a fit for
Brimstone”
Clarity is important in a grant application: score to
the best of your ability.
Comment on what specific answers were unclear.
The National Storytelling Network brings together
and supports individuals and organizations that use
the power of story in all its forms, so you can give
the applicant the benefit of the doubt.
(Be sure to include in your comments any concerns
about the project’s distance from oral storytelling)
Make a note of this in your comments.
Budgets do not enter into applicant’s scores at this
point in the process.
You don’t have to make the final decision on
whether NSN should fund the ‘apple’ or the
‘orange.’ Rate the proposal on its own merits, on
the 100 point scale, and see which proposals come
out on top.
Notify the committee chair, Tim, and you’ll be
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 Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling — Volunteer Readers Instructions

assigned a different application to read. You don’t

have to give a reason.

After your review

After you’ve submitted your scores and comments to the committee, you’re done. You will have to wait for
November to find out who the recipients will be.

The Brimstone Award committee will review your recommendations, and select finalists who will be invited
to submit a full proposal in August. The committee will review these final applications in September, and
make a decision in October. Once the Board approves the awards, the winner will be notified November
3, 2017. The committee’s discussions and review of these applications are confidential.

The names of invited finalists are not released publicly, only the final winners.

This year, NSN intends to grant a single Brimstone Award of $5,000.

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 Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling — Volunteer Readers Instructions

Preliminary Application Review Criteria – “The Scoring Sheet”

____ (0–15) 1. Are the design and outcomes of the project clearly described and well
articulated?

____ (0–15) 2. Project Goals and Impacts. How much positive impact will the project
make on its community?

____ (0–10) 3. Assessment and Evaluation. Does the project include a plan to
measure its success? How well will it measure the goals and impacts of
the project?

____ (0–10) 4. Project Significance and Innovation. How innovative in method or

application is the project?

____ (0–10) 5. Project Significance and Innovation. How familiar is the applicant
with similar work in the field?

____ (0–10) 6. Experience and Qualifications. How well qualified are those who will
be carrying out the project?

____ (0–10) 7. Does the project seem likely to achieve its goals?

____ (0–10) 8. Broader Impacts of the Project Model. How well does the project
include a clear plan to share its model and communicate the lessons
learned?

____ (0–10) 9. Broader Impacts of the Project Model. Will this project lead to an
increase in overall understanding of the ways storytelling can promote
change in individuals and communities?
____ TOTAL (out of 100 points)

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