Nearly 1,500 podcasts came from 42 states and the District of Columbia. NPR's Student Podcast Challenge, now in its eighth year, has named its 2026 middle- and high-school finalists, and the list shows young people examining the institutions and pressures shaping their lives.
NPR's education team listened to the entries over the summer. Now, a judging team will consider the finalists. Grand prize winners will be announced in the coming weeks, and their podcasts will air on Morning Edition, All Things Considered and other NPR programs. Winners and honorable mentions in the fourth-grade category will come later. NPR said thousands of students, teachers, parents and sponsors took part.
What Students Chose to Examine
A special prompt asked students to explore what it means to be an American in the year marking the nation's 250th anniversary. Several finalists brought that question into public life.
Anthony Perez's "I.C.E. Out" comes from High Tech Middle Media Arts in San Diego, where teacher and sponsor Linda Ov guided the project. Increased I.C.E. activity in 2026 prompted the California middle schoolers to investigate why the agency was created, research its history and conduct interviews. KPBS is the member station.
Anna Su, a student at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md., made "The Government Exodus: Why Federal Workers Resign." Hundreds of thousands of federal employees voluntarily left their jobs in 2025, while Su's mother stayed. Su interviews former federal workers about their decisions. WAMU is the member station.
Fifth graders at Hewlett Elementary School in Hewlett, N.Y., produced "Civics in Our Schools." They ask, "What do you really know about our country?" They discuss civics with classmates and teachers, then learn from an expert how to engage people. Their teacher and sponsor is Jaime Harrington.
Technology, Learning and Who Gets Understood
Technology in the classroom runs through the entries. Students examined AI, cell phone bans and screen-time concerns. In "Artificially Intelligent," New Mexico student Miles Jackman investigates how AI, which is pervasive in school, influences students' work. Eleanor Deutsch of Troy Intermediate School in Avon Lake, Ohio, says she's using a computer more than ever as a fifth grader. For "The Device Debate," she interviews students, parents and administrators about school technology's benefits and drawbacks, then proposes alternatives, including paper and pencil.
Other finalists focused on learning differences and disability. Cora Walsh of South Side Middle School in Rockville Centre, N.Y., talks with her mother and tutor in "Dyslexia and MEE." "People with dyslexia can be amazing in so many ways," she says. She has long struggled with reading, but says dyslexia isn't all bad.
Lucas DeVries of Minnetonka Middle School West in Chanhassen, Minn., made "More Than Just a Differability" about his brother Jacob, who has Down syndrome. "People often think they understand Down syndrome, but a lot of times, they really don't," DeVries says. Haarrathi Kanna of Edgemont Jr./Sr. High School in Greenville, N.Y., volunteers with a music therapist and has seen how music can help students with learning differences. In "Music on the Mind," she asks three neurologists how music affects the brain.
Family, Memory and Loss
Family history and grief appear throughout many entries. Livie Courser interviews her grandpa in "Leaving Greece" about leaving his small village on Crete for America. "It was very difficult for him and his family, and he had many chores after school," she says. In "Dear Kate," Kate Baker writes about her Grandpa Ted and tries to understand dementia, the disease that took him from her. Allen Mondragon's father died four years ago. "Death ended his life, but it didn't end his impact," Mondragon says.
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Why This Matters: The finalists' topics include immigration enforcement, the departure of hundreds of thousands of federal workers, civic knowledge, AI in classrooms, dementia and disability. Adults often debate those subjects without hearing from the young people who live with the results. The challenge gives students in 42 states and the District of Columbia a national public-media platform, while local member stations and teachers back each project. From a center-left view, that investment in civic education and public broadcasting widens who gets heard. It treats students' questions about institutions, technology and belonging as worth airing. The winning podcasts will reach NPR's programs in the coming weeks.