University of Delaware junior wins NPR’s College Podcast Challenge

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Mere minutes before the NPR Student Podcast Challenge deadline, Trinity Hunt, a former WHYY intern, eagerily double clicked the submit button. The University of Delaware junior had no idea that her submission, “Dear Little Sister,” would earn her the winning spot, competing against over 500 entries from across the country.

“Dear Little Sister” is a compilation of letters and phone calls between Trinity and her little sister Jewel, who left home for basic training after joining the U.S. Army. With limited editing and audio experience, Hunt embarked on her podcast journey without any fancy tools or equipment — just an iPhone and a vision.

She began recording her conversations with her sister but didn’t decide to fully commit to creating the podcast until hours before the deadline. She wanted to share a glimpse of their relationship as they dealt with living apart. The two have grown close over the years and the separation was difficult for Hunt.

“She’s my best friend,” Hunt said. “When she talked about entering into the military, I was like, ‘No that’s not happening, you’re not doing that.’ But I knew this was something that she wanted to do.”

At first, Hunt struggled with supporting her sister’s decision.

“It was so new to me because no one else in my family had been in the military,” Hunt said. “I was experiencing this first hand especially as an older sister. It was like this protective sense that you feel.”

The eight-minute podcast balances authenticity and vulnerability while protecting her sister’s personal life. There were a few things Hunt chose to leave out while sharing their story, like her sister’s mental and physical health during training.

“I didn’t want to put her business out there,” Hunt said. “I wanted to be as vulnerable as I could. I feel like that was more interesting to people. If I just talked about it without sharing that vulnerable aspect of the letters and the phone calls it wouldn’t have been as interesting.”