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Mediacorp holds talent hunt competition to find the next podcast star

SINGAPORE — Media organisation Mediacorp is on the hunt for talented young people who are looking for their big break on the podcasting scene.

Mediacorp holds talent hunt competition to find the next podcast star
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  • Media organisation Mediacorp is holding a talent hunt competition, with a S$5,000 top prize, for people aged 15 to 25
  • From Aug 31 to Sept 30, interested participants may submit a five- to 10-minute podcast 
  • The podcast can be in any genre but must be original, in English and with copyright-free music
  • Mediacorp said that it has made several enhancements to the competition which aim to further nurture promising talent and drive stronger engagement with audiences
  • Winners of the competition will be announced in January 2024

SINGAPORE — Media organisation Mediacorp is on the hunt for talented young people who are looking for their big break on the podcasting scene.

From Aug 31 to Sept 30, those interested who are aged 15 to 25 may enter a competition called Be a Podcastar and submit a five- to 10-minute English podcast of any genre. It should include only original content and copyright-free music.

Mediacorp owns TODAY.

The competition was first announced on June 22. The original submission period was June 26 to Aug 31, before Mediacorp announced on Aug 8 that it was extending the deadline.

Together with the extension, Mediacorp said that it has made several enhancements to the competition which aim to further nurture promising talent and drive stronger engagement with audiences.

There will be two additional rounds in the competition to challenge participants to push their boundaries of creativity.

After the initial submission phase, 10 shortlisted participants will then be required to produce and upload one new podcast to the firm’s digital audio service, melisten, and Spotify, and face potential elimination at each round.

Mediacorp will be providing them with a one-to-one mentorship by a panel of podcasting experts, as well as S$200 in cash at each round to help them with their production costs.

It added that the number of listens a podcast receives will also now replace public voting as an evaluation criterion in each of the two additional rounds, as well as in the final round.

During the final round, the top three podcasts will be judged based on the judges’ evaluation (60 per cent) and number of listens received (40 per cent).

The panel of judges, comprising industry and podcasting experts, includes:

  • Mr Danny Koordi, podcast content strategist in Mediacorp’s growth and audio team
  • Mr Norman Chella, co-founder of Malaysia’s premier podcast network Renegade Radio
  • Ms Raven Lim, co-founder of the Tomboy Tirade podcast series and founder of podcast firm MeaVox Live
  • Ms Chen Ning, radio DJ, podcast and TV host
  • Ms Nazurah Razali, co-founder and creative strategist at itsclarity.co, and creator of Hush Podcast and Men, Explain

A Mediacorp spokesperson said that the new enhancements were introduced to inject more excitement in the competition.

“We have since received healthy interest from participants, and with the extension of the submission deadline till Sept 30, we welcome more podcasting enthusiasts to join us.”

Winners of the competition will be announced in January 2024.

The grand prize winner will receive S$5,000 in cash and podcasting equipment. They will also secure a one-year podcast partnership with Mediacorp and be featured on melisten.

The two runner-ups will receive S$200 each and podcasting equipment.

To help interested parties prepare for the competition, Mediacorp had organised a free two-day boot camp on June 24 and 25 at *Scape in the Orchard Road area, featuring guest speakers such as Mediacorp 987 DJ Sonia Chew as well as Haresh Tilani, host of the podcast series Yah Lah But. 

Interested parties may find more information about the Be a Podcastar competition at www.mediacorp.sg/beapodcastar.

Related topics

Mediacorp podcast talent *Scape

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