Van Alstyne wins Vermont Prize for Tenney film $5000 award to benefit work on second movie

By Cynthia Prairie
©2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Chester native Travis Van Alstyne is the 2026 winner of the Vermont Prize, an annual $5,000 award given to one Vermont-based artist working in the visual arts. The award recognizes his short animated film Love of the Land, an award-winning animated short film that was released in 2024.

Love of the Land is the true story of one man’s life that progress can destroy. It is the tale of farmer Romaine Tenney, a 64-year-old lifelong Weathersfield farmer whose home and land were taken by the state to make way for I-91. On Sept. 12, 1964, Tenney set his barns on fire, then nailed himself inside his home before setting it on fire as well.

Van Alstyne, 45, and in a grad school residency program in California, began recreating the story in animation, a process that took four years and involved more than 3,500 drawn frames, all done by hand. Love of the Land premiered at the 2024 and has been an official selection at 25 film festivals, won 12 film festival awards and selected as the recipient of the 2025 Richard O. Hathaway Award from the Vermont Historical Society.

In an interview on Tuesday, Van Alstyne said he will put the award money toward continuing work on his The Barnard Panther animation project. “I honestly didn’t know where the remaining money was going to come from for The Barnard Panther,” he said, “so I’m so excited that this award fully funds it.” Van Alstyne said that  Love of the Land  and The Barnard Panther cost around $15,000 each to create.

According to an earlier article in The Chester Telegraph, Van Alstyne learned about Tenney’s story as a child and his fascination with it grew through the years. As a Green Mountain High student he and friend took a late night drive up to Weathersfield to the site of the Tenney farm. Van Alstyne graduated from GMUHS in 1999, then attended the Savannah College of Art and Design before returning to Vermont, where he works as a web designer for Ben & Jerry’s. But Tenney’s story stayed with him.

The prize is an initiative of Burlington City Arts, the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, The Current and the Hall Art Foundation. It is juried by five people — a representative from each of the four partner organizations and a fifth unaffiliated juror. The winner is selected for artistic excellence.