NDR is looking for young podcast stars: Who brings happiness to the microphone?

NDR is looking for young podcast stars: Who brings happiness to the microphone?

The Norddeutsche Rundfunk (NDR) launched the exciting Podclass Contest 2024/25 to discover young podcast talents from northern Germany! Since October 1, pupils in the eighth and ninth classes from Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Hamburg submitted their creative podcast concepts. The competition attracts school classes, AGS and project groups of all school types and promises exciting insights into the world of thoughts of the young people.

This year's motto "Generation Happy? What is a happy life?" Ask the participants to explore their own ideas of happiness. What does happiness mean for you? What social observations do you make? The students deal with topics such as family, friendship and the influence of social media. The NDR jury will select the best concepts, and the four winning teams can produce their first podcast episode in the NDR studios in Hanover, Kiel, Schwerin and Hamburg!

The course of the competition

In October 2024, the learning phase started with the simple.Medien Podcast Playbook, a manual full of useful tips and techniques. The teams developed their own talk formats and submitted their detailed concepts until November 22nd. Now the NDR jury selects the three best teams from each federal state for the final, which will take place from December 2024 to February 2025. The finalists have the task of further working on their concepts and creating a complete script that must be submitted by February 7, 2025.

The jury consists of experienced NDR employees who rate the submissions and select the winning teams. Criteria such as originality, structure and the potential for serial production flow into the decision. All twelve teams that make it into the final receive a certificate, while the second and third place places can also win prizes. The anticipation for the creative podcasts is huge, and the NDR professionals are at the side of the teams throughout the process!