Q&As from our first-ever Student Podcast Challenge webinar
Mar Hernandez for NPR
Hi everyone. It’s Janet Woojeong Lee, producer on NPR’s education team. Hope you’re hanging in there, and hopefully it’s getting warmer wherever you are.
We’re a month and a half into the 2026 Student Podcast Challenge and have so far received 80+ entries! A special shoutout to Ana Gallegos at the Public Academy for Performing Arts in Albuquerque, N.M. for being the very first one. For everyone else, you’ve got months more to go and I can’t wait to listen to whatever you come up with.
Contest Updates & Key Dates
🙌 A huge thanks again to everyone who came to our first-ever webinar! Our small team, meaning me and my big boss, Steve Drummond, learned a lot from your questions: That you are working with new tech tools and phone bans and sometimes have a hard time understanding our rules around music and copyright. We also appreciated the warm feedback from our veteran teachers, sharing what is and isn’t working for you.
For those of you who missed it – we get it! Teachers, you all have a lot on your plate. Please email us at studentpodcastchallenge@npr.org, and we would be happy to share recordings of the session so you won’t be missing out on anything. We want to make things as easy as possible for you.
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Photo Illustration by Becky Harlan/NPR
Frequently Asked Questions
📝 I also wanted to address some questions that came up over and over again during the webinar, and over email:
Q: What are some questions I can assign to students so they have some guidance on choosing their podcast topic?
A: We gotchu! You can find brainstorming questions and more in our student podcasting guide for teachers. To share a couple:
Tell us a story about your school or community: about something that happened there — recently or in the past — that you want your audience to know about.
What is a moment in history that all students should learn about?
Show us both sides of a debate about an issue that's important to you.
Explain something that kids understand and grownups don't.
For more, check out these handy resources from our friends:
Q: Can my class use AI-generated music in my podcast?
A: No, so please refrain from using AI-generated music or audio and instead, think creatively about music and other sound effects you can record yourself!
As always, you can reach me at studentpodcastchallenge@npr.org with any questions, concerns or feedback. And before I sign off, a small secret for anyone who made it here…
🥁 Next week, we will be announcing the finalists of the 2025 College Podcast Challenge !!! And I am sooo excited for everyone to hear these. Can’t wait! Until then –
Warmly,
Janet Woojeong Lee
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