Our Student Podcast Contest

Do you listen to podcasts? Do you tune in to find out what’s happening in the world? To stay up-to-date on sports, culture, fashion or TV? To get advice? To laugh? To hear a good story? To learn something new?

Imagine you — or you and several of your friends — were behind the microphone. What would you talk about? Who might you like to interview? What thoughts, talents, insights, opinions or stories would you want to share with the world?

In our ninth annual Student Podcast Contest, we invite teenagers to submit original podcasts of five minutes or less. Your creation can be about anything that interests you, in any form that you like. Our favorites will be featured on The Learning Network.

Take a look at the guidelines and related resources below. Please post any questions you have in the comments and we’ll answer you there, or write to us at [email protected]. And, consider hanging this PDF one-page announcement on your class bulletin board.

The Challenge

Produce a podcast of five minutes or less that informs or entertains.

You can create a podcast on any topic you like in any format you like, whether that’s an interview with an expert, an informal conversation with a friend, a journalistic investigation, a fictional story or anything else you can think of. We welcome podcasts across genres, including, comedy, true crime, news documentary, history, radio theater and sports — let your imagination run wild.

Just make sure that whatever you produce is a complete listening experience. That is, your podcast should have a clear beginning, middle and end.

Your submission can be an excerpt from a longer podcast, as long as you demonstrate thoughtfulness about how you are using time. The beginning, for example, should give listeners some context as to what they’re hearing; the ending can be a hard “end” of the podcast, or it can be the conclusion of a segment, or even the closing of an introduction within a longer episode.

A Few Rules

In addition to the guidelines above, here are a few more details:

You must be a student ages 13 to 19 in middle school or high school to participate, and all students under 18 must have parent or guardian permission to enter. Please see the F.A.Q. section for additional eligibility details.
Be sure to use non-copyrighted sound effects or music, with some exceptions. Please be sure to use only sound effects or music that you have permission to use for your podcast and that do not violate the intellectual property rights of any person. Here are some ways to do that: 1. Don’t include any sound effects or music in your podcast. 2. Create your own sound effects or music using instruments or audio editing software. 3. Look for copyright-free sound effects and music, or sound effects and music that are in the public domain, such as some of the files on Freesound and SoundBible. 4. There are limited fair use exceptions when you can legally use copyrighted music or sound effects, such as when you are critiquing a song or reporting on a film. Read more about those exceptions to ensure that your use of copyrighted material does not infringe on copyright protections.

If you use any music or sound effects, please list the sources in the designated field in the submission form.
We suggest uploading your podcast to SoundCloud to make it easier for our judges to listen to your work. Make sure that the track settings are set to “public.” Our judges will also listen to entries hosted on other podcasting sites, including Podomatic, Buzzsprout, Anchor, Spreaker and Podbean. Please make sure you follow your hosting site’s terms of service. Note: We are not accepting entries on GoogleDrive.
Your piece should be no longer than five minutes. Please be sure to check the length of your audio file before submitting. Just to be very clear, 5:01 is longer than five minutes.
The podcast you submit should be your own — it should not be plagiarized, created by someone else or generated by artificial intelligence. That includes your podcast script. You may, however, use spelling and grammar check tools and get feedback on your podcast.
Your podcast must be original for this contest. That means it should not already have been published at the time of submission, whether by a radio station, another contest or on any other site (not including your own page or a teacher’s class page). However, after you submit to this contest, you are allowed to submit your entry to another publication or contest for possible publication.
Please also keep in mind that The New York Times has a global audience, including many families, so your submission should be appropriate for a broad audience. (For instance, please avoid cursing.)
You may work alone or with a group, but students should submit only one entry each.

You must also submit a short, informal “artist’s statement” as part of your submission, that describes your writing and research process in 400 words or fewer. These statements, which will not be used to choose finalists, help us to design and refine our contests. See the F.A.Q. to learn more.
All entries must be submitted by May 13, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time using the electronic form that we will add to the bottom of this page when the contest opens.

Resources for Teachers and Students

Use these resources to help you create a podcast:

A unit plan on writing for podcasts, which includes writing prompts to inspire your work; a mentor text featuring past winners of our contest; a lesson plan that focuses on storytelling, interviewing, editing and producing; and much more. The Bell, a nonprofit that supports journalism education for students in public schools, also provides a free four-week podcast curriculum for educators.
Three short videos from two Times audio producers and one student contest winner who share tips on how to plan, script and record meaningful podcasts.
A recorded webinar (above) on writing for podcasts in which you’ll hear from a school librarian with experience teaching podcasting to students, New York Times podcast producers and previous student winners of our contest.
Our winners from 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2018, as well as a video with advice from several of them (below).

Two lesson plans on teaching with popular New York Times podcasts: “Using the Modern Love Podcast to Teach Narrative Writing” and “Experimenting With Sound and Story: Teaching and Learning With ‘The Daily’ Podcast.”
Our contest rubric.

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to your questions about writing, judging, the rules and teaching with this contest. Please read these thoroughly and, if you still can’t find what you’re looking for, post your query in the comments or write to us at [email protected].

QUESTIONS ABOUT PODCASTING

What is a podcast?

Simply put: Podcasts are audio programs that can take almost any form. They can be a news report or a one-act play; a formal interview or a friendly conversation; a personal narrative or a book review. Some podcasts are informative, others are entertaining, and others try to persuade. They can be funny, serious, thought-provoking or emotional. In short, your podcast can be pretty much whatever you want it to be.

How can I make my podcast stand out?

We are primarily looking for thoughtful pieces with a clear beginning, middle and ending. Here are a few tips to get your podcast noticed by our judges:

Choose a topic that matters to you. Not only will your passion sustain you during the creative process, but it will shine through in the final product. Remember, though, you have only five minutes, so make sure you choose something that you can do justice in that time. For example, you probably won’t be able to take on all of climate change, but you can focus on a small aspect of it, like food waste in your community.
Use a format that brings your topic to life. Ask yourself: What is the best way to tell this story? Is it appropriate to tell the story from your own point of view or should you interview an expert? Does it make sense for the podcast to have a rigid structure or should it be more of a free flowing conversation? Should it be nonfiction or could a fictional story be more entertaining or meaningful?
Prepare. Before recording your podcast, create an outline or a script. Having a plan will both help you make the most use of your five minutes, and make it easier for your listener to follow along.
Make sure your audio is clear. You don’t need to have high-grade recording equipment to make a great podcast, but do be mindful to speak clearly and to eliminate background noise as much as possible.
Use sound thoughtfully and intentionally. Spoken word, music, sound effects and environmental noise can all make for a compelling listening experience. Consider how you might use them strategically to provide context, create structure for your podcast and engage your listeners’ emotions.

How do I come up with a topic for my podcast?

Your podcast can be about anything. To get ideas, start by browsing our list of 1,000 writing prompts, which includes questions on everything from video games and fashion to smartphones and parenting. Try responding to a few prompts that interest you. Then, you might choose one you enjoyed writing about as inspiration for your podcast.

If you’re thinking about sharing a personal story, take a look at these prompts for personal and narrative writing. If you want to assert an opinion or engage in a debate, look at this list of prompts for argumentative writing. You can find even more in our Writing Prompts column, where we publish a new question every school day.

Can someone else produce or edit my work?

You are welcome to get feedback on and suggestions for your podcast, but the work you submit, including the editing and production, should be your own.

Where can I find examples of podcasts in The Times?

You can find all regular Times podcasts in the Podcast column, and special narrative projects from Serial Productions here. Here are a few of our favorites:

“The Daily,” a 20-minute morning news program powered by New York Times journalism.
“Cannonball with Wesley Morris,” conversations about the culture that moves us.
“Modern Love,” stories that explore the complicated love lives of real people.
“Popcast,” a podcast by the The Times’s pop music team on music news, new songs and albums, and artists of note.
“Animal,” a six-part series that explores what we can learn from animals.

But remember, you’re not limited to The Times for inspiration.

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QUESTIONS ABOUT JUDGING

How will my podcast be judged?

Your work will be listened to by producers and journalists on The New York Times podcast team as well as by Learning Network staff members, professional podcasters and educators from around the United States. We will use this rubric to judge entries.

What’s the prize?

Having your work published on The Learning Network.

When will the winners be announced?

About three months after the contest has closed.

My podcast wasn’t selected as a winner. Can you tell me why?

We typically receive over a thousand entries for this contest, so, unfortunately, our team does not have the capacity to provide individual feedback.

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QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RULES

Who is eligible to participate in this contest?

This contest is open to students ages 13 to 19 who are in middle school or high school around the world. College students cannot submit an entry. However, high school students (including high school postgraduate students) who are taking one or more college classes can participate. Students attending their first year of a two-year CEGEP in Quebec Province can also participate. In addition, students age 19 or under who have completed high school but are taking a gap year or are otherwise not enrolled in college can participate.

The children and stepchildren of New York Times employees are not eligible to enter this contest. Nor are students who live in the same household as those employees.

Can I have someone else check my work?

We understand that students will often revise their work based on feedback from teachers and peers. That is allowed for this contest. However, be sure that the final submission reflects the ideas, voice and writing ability of the student, not someone else.

Why are you asking for an Artist’s Statement about our process? What will you do with it?

All of us who work on The Learning Network are former teachers. One of the many things we miss, now that we work in a newsroom rather than a classroom, is being able to see how students are reacting to our “assignments” in real time — and to offer help, or tweaks, to make those assignments better. We’re asking you to reflect on what you did and why, and what was hard or easy about it, in large part so that we can improve our contests and the curriculum we create to support them. This is especially important for new contests, like this one.

Another reason? We have heard from many teachers that writing these statements is immensely helpful to students. Stepping back from a piece and trying to put into words what you wanted to express, and why and how you made artistic choices to do that, can help you see your piece anew and figure out how to make it stronger. For our staff, they offer important context that help us understand individual students and submissions, and learn more about the conditions under which students around the world create.

Whom can I contact if I have questions about this contest or am having issues submitting my entry?

Leave a comment on this post or write to us at [email protected].

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QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHING WITH THIS CONTEST

I’m a teacher. What resources do you have to help me teach with this contest?

Start with our unit plan for creating a podcast. It includes writing prompts, mentor texts and lesson plans that can support this contest. To learn more about how to teach with this unit, watch our on-demand webinar.

Do my students need a New York Times subscription to use these resources?

No. The Learning Network is completely free.

What can you tell me about student copyright and privacy issues?

Students retain the copyright in their work. That means that they own their work, and can sell it and/or have it published elsewhere after submitting it to our contest.

However, by submitting an entry, a student — or if they are not yet 18 years old, then their parent or guardian — agrees that The Times can use the submission in print in The New York Times and online at nytimes.com. And they agree that The Times can authorize third parties to do so as well. The permission form is part of the submission process.

Students are not required to provide their full name. We let students and their families decide how they want to identify themselves if their entry is selected as a finalist.

How do my students prove to me that they entered this contest?

After they press “Submit” on the form below, they will see a “Thank you for your submission.” line appear. They can take a screenshot of this message.

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