"Best of the Best 2019": Hour 1

Best of the Best is an annual ode to audio storytelling, taking listeners on a journey through the full breadth of what’s possible in stories made from sound.

Third Coast / Richard H.Driehaus Foundation Competition. Host Gwen Macsai introduces the winners of the Best New Artist Award and the Best Documentary: Gold Award, plus a behind-the-scenes interview with producer Sayre Quevedo.

Stories featured in this hour:

• Mardi Gras Is A State Of Mind, produced by Mara Lazer.

  -Winner of the 2019 Best New Artist Award

  -This is a story about the idea of shape shifting, with a friend, via testosterone. What does it mean to be a lesbian separatist who might actually be a man?

• The Return, produced by Sayre Quevedo, with editors Marlon Bishop and Sophia Paliza-Carre for NPR’s Latino USA.

  -Winner of the 2019 Best Documentary: Gold Award

  -Javier Zamora came to the United States at the age of nine and built a life there. But when his Temporary Protected Status was threatened by the Trump Administration, he had no choice but to return to El Salvador for the first time in 20 years.