24-hour Radio Race 2016

*Think you missed the fun? You didn't. The 5th Annual 24 Hour Radio Race is August 19th! Get on it.

Today, we bring you four stories that were created in the 24 hours between 10:01AM on August 6 and August 7. The winners of KCRW's Fourth Annual 24-hour Radio Race.

But first, the Social Butterfly award.

SOCIAL BUTTERFLY

Participants were asked not only to make great radio in a time crunch, but also to post about it on social media as they did, under the hashtag #RadioRace. People posted about food, and exhaustion, and stress, and joy. Taken together, the #RadioRace posts told the story of the race, as it was happening. We curated a collection of those posts on Storify.

One team was particularly active on social media – not only posting about their own process, but cheering on other radio-makers through the tough parts of the race. So this year, our Social Butterfly award goes to that team – 99.3 FM WBTV-LP, from Burlington, Vermont. Take a look at their #RadioRace tweets.

And now – the winners.

THIRD PLACE

Jo Upton and Jennifer Macey for A Secret Garden, a fun story about a secret patch of the Australian wilderness, buried in suburbia.

Recording at the abandoned Coker with @jennifermacey#RadioRace#theJteampic.twitter.com/JIGkcL6awt — Jo Upton (@BikeLove)

August 7, 2016

SECOND PLACE

Gina Gambony for Route 104, looking at a public bus, and the arbitrary lines it won't cross.

UNFICTIONAL PICK

Mark Bramhill and Jon Earle for The Diva Sheep, a story that was so playful and strange it's hard not to fall in love with it.

FIRST PLACE

Nicki Stein and Laura Cramer for After Evan, which walked the delicate line of a story that was funny, touching, and sad, all at once.

Web extra: Extended interview tape with winners.

Beer and gear: ready for the #radiorace interview!

A photo posted by Jonathan I Hirsch (@jonathanihirsch) on Aug 6, 2016 at 12:29pm PDT

Thanks to our judges: Ave Carrillo from the New Yorker Radio Hour, Jenny Lawton from Studio 360, Eleanor McDowall of Falling Tree Productions, and Daisy Rosario from Latino USA. And thanks to our KCRW producers and staff who helped listen to the entries.

Thanks to our sponsors this year:Association of Independents in Radio, Pop-Up Archive, Public Radio Exchange and Soundcloud.

Thanks to our volunteers who helped monitor the race this year: Jen Baker, Andrea Bautista, Ben Jardine and Bill Kehoe.

And special thanks to digital editor Caitlin Shamberg, and to Myke Dodge-Weiskopf, who made this year's race happen.

Photo:Sarah Fylak