The New York Times’ fourth annual podcast contest for teens fostered a record number of submissions, with more than 1,500 entries. The newspaper invited teenagers to create an original audio program, 5 minutes or less, about anything they wanted. “Using a range of podcasting formats and techniques, including storytelling, interviews and archival sound clips, these middle and high school students informed, inspired and entertained our judges using only a few minutes of thoughtfully produced audio,” the Times said.
It honored 12 winners, 13 runners-up and 29 honorable mentions. Winning topics included an undercover investigation of internet extremism, an exploration of how people use boxing to cope with Parkinson’s disease, a dive into the racist history of square dancing, Asian fetishization and a personal narrative about growing up with alopecia areata.
The winning entrants included:
#beautifulthewayIam by Riyana Goel, 13, Kennedy Middle School, Cupertino, CA
OREOntation by Yasmine Ware, 17, Madison Central High School, Madison, MS
Veggies Hallelujah! by Adeline Daab, 17, Walter Payton College Prep, Chicago
Trauma for Sale by Michelle Yu and Sarah Malik, Hunter College High School, New York
Is This Green Space Too White? Environmental Equity in Rock Creek Park by Arielle Kouyoumdjian, 14,Nysmith School, Herndon, VA
We Explored Internet Extremism So You Won’t Have To by Emily Zhang, Sophia Shin and Matthew Suescun, Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, NJ
Punching Out Parkinson’s: How People Use Boxing to Cope with Parkinson’s Disease by Gabe Gottesman, 17, Mercer Island High School, Mercer Island, WA
The Hidden Hate of a Wholesome Dance by Susanna Swidey and Margot Madison, Newton South High School, Newton, MA
Divided Between Quotients by Sarah Gorbatov, 15, The Idea School, Tenafly, NJ
Asian Fetishization, Past and Present by Caroline Gao, Tracy Huang, Spencer Madsen, 16, and Ella Meyer, West Albany High School, Albany, OR
The Teens Fighting Against the Philippine Drug War by Arya Vohra, Hanmin Lee and Khush Jammu, United World College of South East Asia Dover, Singapore
The Winston Churchill Debate — Should We Celebrate a Racist War Hero? by Swayam Tripathy, 16,United World College of South East Asia East Campus, Singapore
See runners-up HERE.