Nevada Public Radio wants to highlight the hosts and producers of tomorrow! We’re giving journalism students a chance to have their work be heard on KNPR’s State of Nevada, both live on air and in our streaming platforms.

Journalism has changed dramatically over the past decade. Multimedia journalism, including an array of audio and video, is already a part of many outlets’ newsrooms. Among the fastest-growing media is the podcast. There are millions of podcasts throughout the world, but most of them have few listeners. Our hope is to give students a head start in this competitive world by supporting their journalism productions. Best of all, it will also give our listeners a taste of what youth in their community are thinking.

Here are the details.

1. What: KNPR’s Student Podcast Contest
   
2. When: Fall 2024 school semester.
   
3. Who: Nevada college students and CCSD advanced journalism/media students. (If you're interested, contact your instructor or department head, who will administer the project at your school.)
   
   1. CCSD’s 60 high schools
      
      1. School newspapers
      2. Journalism classes
   2. UNLV/UNR/CSN journalism students
4. How: Each school class or program decides how to select its submission(s).
   
5. Timeline: Entries due to KNPR by Friday, November 1, 2024 (Nevada Day recess).
   
   1. KNPR will pick up to three finalists from CCSD schools, and up to three finalists from NSHE schools.
   2. KNPR will announce finalists three weeks after submissions deadline.
      
      1. KNPR journalists will meet with teams of finalists one-on-one to offer advice and training for improving their productions.
      2. Finalists have two weeks to revise projects and resubmit for the final round by November 15, 2024.
      3. First, second, and third place winners will be announced by December 6, 2024.
   3. Winning podcasts will air during the 2024 holiday season (between Hannukah and New Year’s Day), as scheduling allows.
6. Podcast guidelines: Each submission should:
   
   1. Be one episode on a single theme (though it can be part of a larger series).
   2. Be 12 minutes long, including intro and outro.
   3. Include both an audio file (wav or mp3) and a document (Google or Word).
      
      1. The written document should include the following episode information:
         
         1. Title
         2. Producer(s)
         3. Host(s)
         4. Guests/interviewees/sources
         5. Summary of the topic
         6. Transcript, with timestamped bites set apart in the text
7. Winner
   
   1. All finalists will receive a “KNPR’s student podcast competition” certificate.
   2. In addition to having their winning productions broadcast on-air, winners will be invited to discuss their podcasts on KNPR’s State of Nevada.

Questions? Call or email Joe Schoenmann, KNPR’s State of Nevada host and senior producer, at 702-259-7831 or joe@knpr.org.

Read the full contest rules here.