Four Wins and One Honorable Mention By MIHS Media Students in 6th Annual New York Times Student Podcast Contest

Mercer Island, WA, July 7, 2023 – Five Mercer Island High School students have won awards in the New York Times 6^th Annual Student Podcast Contest.

The Times podcast contest received nearly 1,100 submissions from high school students all over the United States. From this large number of submissions, the Times chose 11 winners, three of which were MIHS student submissions. The Times also chose 14 Honorable Mentions and one of those was a MIHS student submission.

Read the New York Times Story on the podcast contest

The winning podcasts and the honorable mention podcast include three wonderful examples of capturing living history and one story about the Fentanyl crisis that we hope is shared widely in our community as it could save lives.

Rising junior Maggie Blohm's winning podcast "The Two Milligram Murderer" pulls no punches and shares the real impact of Fentanyl with interviews from a pediatrician, the DEA, and sadly, a mom.

In the winning "On-Stage at Woodstock" podcast, rising junior Sam Paddor discusses Woodstock with three of the legendary musicians who played there.

Rising junior Kate Lenington and 2023 graduate Renn Novak collaborated on their winning podcast “Aurora Bridge Spotlight: How a Troll Saved Fremont”. They spoke with the visionary behind the Fremont Troll and discussed what the Troll means to Seattle’s art history.

Rising senior Elise McDonald tells the “History of Snoqualmie Pass” in her Honorable Mention winning podcast. Her great grandfather brought the rope tow to Washington and invented night skiing.

“I am very proud of not only these five students accomplishments, but also the many other KMIH staff members who submitted amazing stories for award consideration,” said MIHS Broadcast Media teacher Joe Bryant.

“I think we will have a podcast listening party in the fall so our students can showcase their excellent work. If you listen to these young storytellers I think you will agree that the future is bright for MIHS Media but also for the world in general! There is a lot of talent, wisdom, and inspiration being shared by these teens.”

Bryant continued, “Thanks to everyone who helps mentor our students and particularly thanks to Natalie Woods who has shared her talents the past two years. Coming from TV news, Natalie has taught conciseness and making every word count. She also has taught the value of using actualities and audio that help support the story. These are very valuable skills in a contest where you MUST tell your story in under five minutes!”