When we met with Patty Mitchell at Passion Works to talk about decorations for the inaugural ALAS Festival, she mentioned the work of Deni Naffziger, who for 26 years has been working to help artists with developmental differences at the studio tell their own stories through poetry. 

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At the inaugural festival brunch, we got to hear from two of the artist poets, Noah and JJ, as they shared their stories with us through poetry. After a little background from Patty as to how Deni has been so instrumental in the formation and progress of Passion Works Studios, we were able to honor her impact with the creation of our annual awards: The DENI Awards. 

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Each Deni Award we hand out, from now on, will be representative of someone who is either helping others to tell powerful stories or someone who is telling genuine, important Appalachian stories themselves, through whichever medium they prefer. As the storytellers at each festival change, so will the DENI categories. We look forward to the vast array of stories these awards will honor.