At Silver Sound, we commemorate both the longest and shortest days of the year by encouraging anyone within earshot to pull out their microphones and make something new! Every winter and summer, we host a 48-hour audio storytelling competition and shower the top three winners with fabulous prizes. We call this the Biannual Sonic Dash.
In order to win, entrants must complete and submit a totally original, from-scratch audio piece within two days of being e-mailed a prompt. Ten finalists are then scored by an esteemed panel of judges before the prize-winners are announced the following week.
Registration is now open for the Winter 2025 Sonic Dash, which will take place on the weekend of January 3rd-5th, 2025.
Registrants will be e-mailed a prompt for the competition on Friday, January 3rd. They will then have until noon on Sunday, January 5th to submit their entry.
As before, our top winner takes home a $1,000 cash prize. Other prizes will be announced later this fall, though you can take a look at our Past Dashes to see the goodies we’ve dished out in the past. While you’re there, be sure to see what prior finalists have been able to do with 48 hours and a lot of ingenuity.
The registration portal will close on December 29th, at 12 PM EST, so sign up before then!
FAQs
So how do I enter this thing?
First, there’s a $25 entry fee, payable via PayPal or Venmo. We will link to a registration form to submit your info. Registration is only considered complete after payment is received.
How can I submit my piece?
Entrants will be e-mailed a top-secret submission portal to post links to their entries. All entries must be hosted on Soundcloud and submitted before the deadline.
What kind of piece can I submit?
It has to be less than 2 minutes, and it has to be created 100% from scratch, which means that the use of archival material and pre-existing music is not allowed. More challenging than it seemed, right?
The judges are looking for works that display originality, an innovative use of audio storytelling tools, and an impactful narrative (even if we only get a drive-by glance at it).
Can I still participate, even if I live far from New York and perhaps in another country?
Yes! That’s not a problem.
Wait, where and what is Silver Sound?
Silver Sound is an Emmy Award-winning audio production company with its very own Silver Podcast Network The network’s very first piece, “Aisha,” won top prize at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023.
Our studio is in Manhattan: 28 W 27th St #906 New York, NY 10001
