SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Can a podcast change your life? It did for reporter Anya Steinberg. She won the first NPR College Podcast Challenge five years ago. As we kick off this year's challenge, we asked her to catch up with some other alums.
ANYA STEINBERG, BYLINE: Five years ago, as a freshman at Penn State University, Miriam Colvin became the other winner of NPR's first-ever contest.
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MIRIAM COLVIN: The underdog story is one that we're all very familiar with.
STEINBERG: In her podcast, she dove into family lore about a fateful boxing match between her grandpa's friend and a teenage Muhammad Ali, or Cassius Clay, as he was known back then.
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LARRY PARIS: Who is this guy? I mean, my God I'm not going to go back in there. He's going to kill me.
STEINBERG: Today, Colvin still loves hearing her grandpa talk about his childhood shenanigans - climbing giant bridges, catching birds or the time he met the love of his life at a pencil sharpener.
COLVIN: These stories remind me we need to be out living.
STEINBERG: Colvin says making her podcast and winning the challenge inspired her to pursue a career in stand-up comedy and playwriting.
Like Colvin, Bunmi Omisore also made a podcast about her family. Omisore focused on the family lore she was missing out on all because she couldn't speak her family's native language, Yoruba.
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BUNMI OMISORE: At best, it's like a dance that I've seen many times before but never knew the steps to.
STEINBERG: When she made the story, as a senior at Duke University about a year ago, she couldn't even have simple conversations with her dad in Yoruba.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking in Yoruba).
OMISORE: Let's see if a quick yes can keep me afloat.
(Speaking in Yoruba).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: OK.
STEINBERG: Omisore won an honorable mention. Making her podcast, she realized that the only thing holding her back from learning Yoruba was her fear of feeling stupid.
OMISORE: That slight discomfort that had stopped me for so long, it kind of makes you wonder, OK, how many other things are we missing out on because we're not willing to be in that position as a learner?
STEINBERG: So she went all-in on learning, and her dad held her to it.
OMISORE: He will only answer the phone in Yoruba.
STEINBERG: Her dad left her a voicemail the other day.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Hello, Bunmi. (Speaking in Yoruba).
STEINBERG: He said, "hello, Bunmi. Are you doing OK? If you hear this, call me back." And she's proud to say she understood the whole thing.
JO STROGATZ: I wouldn't be working at Radiolab without winning the challenge.
STEINBERG: Before she landed her dream job, Jo Strogatz was a student at Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Maine, when she made her grand prize-winning entry. She composed her own music and interviewed a friend of hers, who is in his 60s and has never had a romantic partner.
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STROGATZ: So have you ever felt romance with somebody?
STEVE SMALL: No, I have not. I have to say that my friendships are a hundred times more important to me.
STEINBERG: Making this podcast changed the way Strogatz thought about her own friends.
STROGATZ: There's so much about friendships that can be romantic.
STEINBERG: Like a friend coming over to water her plants or deliver soup. The day I spoke with her, she was getting ready to fly to Paris, the city of love, the very next day. She has a boyfriend, but instead of taking him, she was bringing along one of her best friends.
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STROGATZ: Hello from Paris.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Hi. Hi.
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STROGATZ: (Laughter) Bonjour.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Bonjour.
STEINBERG: For NPR News, I'm Anya Steinberg.
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DETROW: If you're inspired by these stories, the NPR College Podcast Challenge is now open. College students, you have until January 2027 to enter for a chance to win $5,000 and hear your story on NPR. Learn more at npr.org/studentpodcastchallenge.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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