March Madness begins for NPR’s College Podcast Challenge

It’s March Madness here at the NPR Education Desk. We’ve listened to hundreds of entries from the best college podcasters around the country, and narrowed the list down to our top 10.

They move on to compete in the finals of our fourth annual College Podcast Challenge. Our judges will choose this year’s national champion, and the winner will take home a $5,000 cash prize.

We’ve got Blue Devils and Tar Heels in the final round — students from Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – North Carolina schools known for that other collegiate tournament in March.

As in past years, nationally ranked colleges and universities advanced, among them Stanford University and two Ivy League schools: Princeton University and Dartmouth College.

Some newcomers made it to the top ranks this year: Maine College of Art & Design; Minnesota State University, Mankato; Hofstra University; and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

And our defending national champion, Miami Dade College, is back, looking for another title.

Some of our finalists are individual students, others are teams working together. There’s a mix of podcasts made as personal projects and stories done as class assignments.

All of them brought their A game when it comes to storytelling and creative use of sound.

Here they are, our 10 finalists, in alphabetical order. We’ll announce the winner next month.

Feel free to listen along and write to us about your own favorites.

• Brave Souls by Eliza Dunn, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.

• Given A Miracle by Ashley Blum, Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.

• It’s All About Radio by Sheridan Follis, Minnesota State University, Mankato. 

• Just Friends by Joanna Strogatz and Harper Caton, Maine College of Art & Design, Portland, Maine.

• Our Stories by Sonia Rao, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

• Something Found in the Middle of Nowhere by Jordan Phillips, Duke University, Durham, N.C.

• Relief of Getting a Goodbye by Kaylee Michael Jarrah Bauchens, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. 

• The Spirit of Spirit Halloween by Isabel Jacobson and Adam Sanders, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.

• Undocumented in the Bay Area: The Potential Impact of Trump’s Proposed Mass Deportations by Arundathi Nair and Hannah Bensen, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.

• When Faced with the Barrel of a Gun by Isabel Paz, Miami Dade College, Miami, Fla.

Congratulations to all our finalists! The grand prize winner will be announced in April, and we’ll also announce the Honorable Mention entries in the coming weeks.

You can subscribe to The Student Podcast Challenge newsletter for the latest on our contest.