Hey, seniors! There are a lot of you out there and the numbers are growing: The roughly 60 million Americans age 65 and older make up the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population.

At this point in life you’ve clocked a lot of miles and gained some experience along the way. You’ve probably got some gray hair to show for it, and no doubt some stories to tell.

Here at NPR, we’d like to hear those stories. And so this fall, we’re asking you to hit “record” and send them to us, in audio form. Stories of love, of family, of finance and health. Memories of the past – or fears and hopes for the future.

We’re calling it the Senior Podcast Challenge, and our judges will select the best ones and put them on our NPR shows.

The grand prize winner? We’ll bring you and a guest to NPR headquarters in Washington to watch — and listen
— as your story airs live on Weekend Edition Sunday.

Stories about … almost anything

The competition builds on the NPR Student Podcast Challenge, which, since 2018, has introduced tens of thousands of young people to the world of audio storytelling. And in 2020, we launched the College Podcast Challenge.

What kind of stories will our judges be listening for? The simple answer is, almost anything – what we’ve found over the years is that the podcasts that stand out are entries where students are passionate about the story they’re telling.

For seniors, podcasts might touch on:

• Adjusting to retirement or life on a fixed income. 
• Health or the cost of healthcare. 
• The isolation that comes with divorce or the loss of a partner.  
• Interviews with a friend or family member. 
• Reflections on family history, a long career, or association with historical events.
• Romance, travel and third (or fourth!) careers. 
• Grandchildren, learning, and new beginnings.

With our student podcasters, many entries involve the efforts of young people to figure out their place in the world. But we’ve also had great journalism – investigative reporting and hard-hitting interviews. And deeply personal stories – about disability, about loss, about identity, about their hopes for, and worries about, the future.