Best of the Best is an annual ode to audio storytelling, taking listeners on a journey through the full breadth of what’s possible in stories made from sound. This hour of the program showcases three of the winning stories from the 20th annual Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition. Host Palace Shaw guides listeners through the journeys of three individuals who are each working to right wrongs, improve lives, and build a better world for themselves and their communities.
Stories featured in this hour:
The Work of Closing a Notorious Jail [excerpt], reported by Carolina Hidalgo and edited by Jen Chien for 70 Million.
Winner of the 2020 Directors’ Choice Award
Five years after Michael Brown’s murder galvanized criminal justice reform activists in St. Louis, Missouri, these folks are gaining serious momentum to shut down the city's notorious Workhouse jail — and we’re brought along to hear how they’ve managed to do it.
Somebody [full episode], produced by Alison Flowers and Bill Healy, and edited by Sarah Geis for Invisible Institute, Topic Studios, The Intercept and iHeartRadio, in association with TenderfootTV.
Winner of the 2020 Best Serialized Story Award
When Shapearl Wells's son Courtney is found outside a Chicago police station with a fatal bullet wound, Shapearl immediately distrusts the official narrative. So she launches her own investigation into her son’s murder — and teams up with journalists to confront the cops and find out the truth about what happened to her child.
Crosses in the Desert / Cruzes en el desierto [very short excerpt], by Catalina May and Dennis Maxwell for Las Raras, with sound design by Martín Cruz.
Winner of the 2020 Best Documentary in a Non-English Language Award
Alvaro Enciso, a retired Tucson resident, spends his time methodically placing crosses in the exact places where dead migrant bodies have been found in the Sonoran desert.