Excellence in Online/Digital Journalism, Engagement

Janet Woojeong Lee, “Student Podcast Challenge: ‘Far From Home: Shikata Ga Nai,’” NPR Student Podcast Challenge

ABOUT THE WORK: NPR's Student Podcast Challenge was founded by a team of education journalists who wanted to hand over the mic to students, so young people can tell their own stories in their own voices. The contest, now in its eighth year, has introduced more than 90,000 students, in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, to journalism and audio storytelling. In 2025, the contest, and NPR’s podcasting curriculum for students, was recognized by the Library of Congress for making “outstanding contributions to increasing literacy in the United States.”

Just a few years ago, we opened up our middle and high school contest to our youngest participants: fourth graders, and that has brought us both delightfully silly and deeply meaningful stories from students all around the country.

Last year’s middle school champion was, in fact, our first-ever repeat winner, who had won the fourth grade contest the previous year. Her podcast is among the most moving stories from among the many thousands we’ve listened to.

Ameya Desai, a fifth grader at Williams Elementary School in San Jose, Calif., interviewed her neighbor’s grandmother, a retired school teacher who is a survivor of the Japanese American incarceration camps. In Ameya’s podcast, “Far From Home,” Ms. Linda Horikawa, 85, recounts vivid, chilling details about life in the camp in Heart Mountain, Wyo. – for the very first time.

Ms. Horikawa told NPR that she was hesitant at first, but it was the young journalist’s care and curiosity that changed her mind. She thought “it was a good time to tell everyone what really happened."

After the judges unanimously selected Ameya's podcast as the winner, our story explored their friendship, and what revisiting this past has meant for Ms. Horikawa – and for our young journalist, who got to listen and share her story with other people. Ameya's entry was one of two of our three grand prize winners last year that came from Asian American students discussing identity and family history. Indeed, among the most successful aspects of the challenge is that it has brought us voices from people and communities that are often left out in national news. We hear young people speaking in their own voices, about things they deeply care about. Stories like Ms. Horikawa's may not have been highlighted on NPR's airwaves, if not for the Student Podcast Challenge – and the many hours, days and weeks our team spends sifting through entries and finding ways to put student-produced stories on the air. In the process, our competition has introduced tens of thousands of young people to journalism and audio storytelling. Many, even our former winners, tell us they have never heard of NPR, or listened to a podcast, before they entered our contest.

Since Ameya's story aired on NPR, it's also been featured in The Week Junior, and Ameya even received a shoutout from Congressman Liccardo. The Student Podcast Challenge has brought us many fine stories from great young journalists – Ameya's is truly special.

Janet Woojeong Lee (she/her) is a producer at NPR covering education, youth and families. She helps tell character-driven, sound-rich stories that show how policy impacts real people. Based in Brooklyn, she also runs NPR's Student Podcast Challenge, a national podcasting contest for middle, high school and college students. Each year, her team listens to thousands of student-produced podcasts and shares those stories on the radio and across NPR platforms. Janet loves working with students too. She previously taught audio journalism at Columbia Journalism School, and has loved being a part of AAJA's JCamp as its audio instructor.

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