Ninety students from six classes showcased their podcasting chops March 7 at the Denison journalism program’s 7th Annual Podcast-a-thon, colloquially known as the ”best listening event of the year.”
A total of 48 projects vied for the Podcast-a-thon’s grand prize: the Golden Buzzy trophy.
The participants’ journey to the big day began months earlier, when science and humanities professors Heather Rhodes, Eric Klemetti, Alan Miller, Lucy Bryan, Julia Kolchinsky, and Doug Swift invited their classes to create podcasts on subjects of their choosing. Faculty are as invested in the competition as the students — the Golden Buzzy adorns the winning podcast’s professor until the next competition.
Denison journalism alums Anna Jones ’24, Jack Reaney ’22, and Sarah Hume ’22 served as audio mentors, advising the students how to take their stories from “good” to “great.”
At the 6 p.m. start time, Swift welcomed listeners with a little help from his dog, Figgy, the department’s unofficial mascot. He handed the microphone off to Emmet Anderson ’25 and Abigail Jump ’25, journalism department fellows or “Jellows” and the evening’s emcees.
Seven audio stories made it to the final round, when the audience and judges listened to each podcast.
“We wanted to honor them all on one basis or another,” judge Jeff Gill said. Maddie Luebkert and Shaye Phillips, both members of the Class of 2027, won the grand prize for their podcast, Reporting the Unimaginable with Anne Saker. Gill said Luebkert and Phillips had won for their “combination of editing, production, and straight-up reporting chops.”
Reporting the Unimaginable with Anne Saker delivers a glimpse into how journalists can navigate ethical obstacles with sensitivity. It followed the story of Saker, a former journalist at The Cincinnati Enquirer, as she faced the challenging dilemma of whether to include the overdose death of a new mother in the newspaper’s Pulitzer-Prize winning series, 7 Days of Heroin.
Luebkert and Phillips won on behalf of Alan Miller’s Journalism Ethics and Empathy course. It was Miller’s first win, and his enthusiasm for winning comes through in photos of the event.
The annual event is largely the work of Swift, who designed the audio storytelling tutorials used by faculty and students in preparation for the event, and visits classes to support as needed.
Listen to the five winning student-created audio stories:
Buzzy Grand Champion
- Reporting the Unimaginable with Anne Saker, by Maddie Luebkert ’27 and Shaye Phillips ’27, on behalf of Miller’s Journalism Ethics and Empathy course.
Honorable Mentions
- A Kidney for Christmas, by Chloe Benson ’25, Luke Dunlap ’27, and Selah Griffin ’25, on behalf of Bryan’s Beyond Good Intentions course.The story of local nurse Heather Long’s generous donation of a kidney to a nine-year-old boy after responding to a billboard advertisement.
- When life gives you TMJ, make TMJ pen!, by Ray Vo ’27 on behalf of Swift’s Multimedia Storytelling course. The story of how a TMJ-alleviating pen was created by an inventor affected by the disorder himself.
People’s Choice Winner
- Forgetful or Focused? The Truth Behind Mom Brain, by Megan Kennedy ’25 and Sarah Kissinger ’25, on behalf of Rhodes’ Neuroscience Seminar. The audio story divesinto the neurological changes that occur postpartum to provide a more scientific reasoning for ‘mom brain.’
Community Participant Category Winner
- Ohio’s forgotten Black cemeteries hold rich history of the state’s pioneers, by Brie Coleman ’27. Featured in February on the Ohio Newsroom, Coleman’s podcast follows the startling reveal of a Black cemetery buried beneath a central Ohio high school and sets out to rediscover the stories of those nearly forgotten by time and ignorance.
