History of the Third Coast Competition
The Third Coast Competition has deep roots in the history of narrative audio storytelling, and now as an independent program, is also entering a new era of flexibility, change and possibility. Through naming award-winners for over 20 years — and, in recent years, also selecting Finalists — Third Coast hosts a living archive of work that adapts, responds to, and reflects the audio field and our world at large. We take particular pride in recognizing work through our Competition that complicates or questions what has come before, and pushes the medium forward.
The beginnings
In 2001, the TC/RHDF Competition was created by Third Coast’s founding executive directors Johanna Zorn & Julie Shapiro, and honored its first set of award-winning stories. In 2011, Third Coast honored the first award-winner that was made originally for podcast.
2015-2019
In 2015, Ira Glass inspired the Skylarking award to recognize the most compelling narrative audio stories that were out for fun. In 2016, former Artistic Director Sarah Geis introduced the "Best Documentary: Foreign Language" award — now the "Best Documentary: Non-English" award —to honor the incredible work being made around the world, in languages other than English. Over the years, the Competition has elevated several works that pushed the boundaries of the medium in blurring documentary and fiction — this was particularly true in 2019, when we honored several winning stories that blurred the lines of fact and fiction. Listen to those stories — and all of the past years' winners – here.
2020
In 2020, we made more changes than ever before. The organization's programming staff - Emily Kennedy, Maya Goldberg-Safir and Isa Vázquez - conceived of two new categories to our Competition: Audio Unbound & Best Documentary: Short. They also expanded eligibility across categories, and doubled down on a commitment to financial accessibility. That year, we also hosted our first-ever virtual Third Coast Awards Ceremony.
2021
In 2021, we implemented a full Collective Pricing model for all categories of the Competition, hosted our second-annual virtual awards celebration, and launched our first-ever Web Showcase where audiences could experience standout works in-depth. Inspired by end of year Best-Of lists, the Web Showcase featured rare critical writing about audio through comments from the judging room. In 2021, we also released the first list of Third Coast Finalists: 40 outstanding entries from across 9 categories.
2022-23
In 2022 & 2023, Third Coast began innovating on all the Competition has to offer. These changes are building toward our vision for the future of the program, which we see as a wholly new model for a community-centered competition program that disrupts hierarchies and introduces lateral support for all of our entrants across the world. As always, we at Third Coast see ourselves as listeners, facilitators, and programmers, with a deep responsibility to serve audio communities around the world.
2024-25
After abruptly learning that Third Coast would no longer receive any financial backing from our longtime funder, the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Third Coast rallied its communities to re-launch the as an independent program. Thanks to the success of an unprecedented fundraiser, “We Need Third Coast,” the independent Third Coast Competition relaunched in the fall of 2024, and will continue through 2025 as we continue to rebuild the program with your support.
Special Thanks
Special thanks to the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, who supported the Third Coast Competition for over 20 years.
Support Us
If you would like to support the Competition, please reach out to us: competition@thirdcoastfestival.org.