OK, class, listen up!

Here's your assignment for next semester: Take a topic, a lesson or a unit you're learning about, and turn it into a podcast.

Yup, we're launching the first-ever NPR Student Podcast Challenge. It's a chance for teachers and students in grades five through 12 across the country to turn your classrooms into production studios, your assignments into scripts and your ideas into sound.

Have something to say? Now is your chance.

Here's how it's going to work: You'll produce a podcast, three to 12 minutes long. You don't need a lot of fancy equipment or a studio — you should be able to do this with just a smartphone and a computer, with easily available software. And you don't need to be an expert in radio production: We'll offer lots of help for students and teachers along the way.

Start planning now — we'll open the contest up to entries on Jan. 1, 2019, and close them on March 31, 2019, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Then, our panel of judges will pick two winners: one from grades five through eight and one from grades nine through 12.

NPR journalists will visit the winning podcasters before the end of the school year, where we'll present a trophy and interview teachers and students. Then those winning podcasts will be featured in segments on NPR programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered later in the spring.

Before you get started, take some time to read through the contest rules.

Good luck! We can't wait to hear your stories.

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