The annual Third Coast / Richard H Driehaus Foundation Competition is here! Since 2011, the Competition has celebrated masterful, experimental, groundbreaking, and radical works in audio storytelling, and has awarded over $300,000 in cash prizes to many of the most innovative makers of the past two decades.

This year, they will award eleven winners in the following nine categories: Best Documentary (Gold, Silver, Bronze), Best Serialized Story. (NEW) Best Documentary: Short, Best New Artist, Best Documentary: Non-English Language, Impact, (NEW) Audio Unbound, Director’s Choice, and Best News Feature.

The Early Deadline (your chance to enter with reduced rates) is May 1, 2020, at 5:00 pm CST. The final deadline is May 25, 2020, 5:00 pm CST. Winners will be notified and announced in Fall of 2020.

This year, Third Coast has restructured their pricing to make the TC/RHDF to make competition more affordable for independent and freelance makers (entry fees starting at $45), as well as first time entrants working in countries underrepresented in their competition (entry fees start at $10).

Audio Unbound is a new category. It is described this way: “We’re breaking audio out of the podcast feed & the broadcast airwaves! It’s time to honor audio work that experiments with embracing other mediums, and artists from other mediums embracing audio.”

Best Documentary: Short is a new category. It is described this way: “We hear some of our favorite audio storytelling in short work – 10 minutes or less. We believe short documentaries are just as powerful as the rest, and deserve a bigger platform and spotlight”.

This year, for the first time, Third Coast will publicly honor finalists of the Competition in addition to the cohort of award-winners.

In 2020, Third Coast is taking the judging process completely virtual. (More details about this year’s panel of 2020 Competition Judges will be revealed later this month). They will also be featuring standout works from the Competition through their virtual programming.

Those who are considering entering the competition should visit the Third Coast website for more details about categories, pricing, deadlines, and more.