Just 48 hours, some microphones, and the truth: registration opens for the Winter 2027 Sonic Dash
Do you think you could make a 2-minute finished piece of audio storytelling, completely from scratch, in a single weekend? Do you think that piece could be REALLY GOOD? Would you like to win $1000 of cold hard cash for said piece? Registration is now open for the Winter 2027 Sonic Dash, the 48-hour audio storytelling competition from Emmy Award-winning studio Silver Sound. The Dash runs January 8–10, 2027. Registration is $25 per person and closes January 7, 2027 at 11:59 PM ET.
On Friday, January 8, every registered entrant is emailed a surprise prompt. They (and their team if they are part of a team) then have until noon on Sunday, January 10 to write, record, mix and submit an original piece under two minutes long. Everything has to be made inside the window: no archival material, no sound libraries, no pre-existing music and no generative AI. Entrants can compete solo or as a team, from anywhere in the world.
Ten finalists are scored by a panel of judges and showcased at a live celebration in New York City and on the Silver Podcast Network. The Grand Prize winner takes home $1,000 in cash plus a bundle of audio software and hardware. Second place receives $350 of audio services from Silver Sound and a suite of audio software and plugins, and the top three pieces are featured on the Silver Podcast Network.
The prompt for the Summer 2026 Dash was “Go For Broke.” Long Island improv and podcast team Tales From the Cloud Sea won the Grand Prize with “Go For Broke or Gopher Broke?”. Michael Satow placed second with “Free Piano,” and Scotland’s Bronwen Livingstone placed third with “Shooting My Shot.” All three pieces, with behind-the-scenes conversations about how they were made, are in the Silver Sound Presents: The Sonic Dash podcast feed.
KEY DATES
- Registration open: Now, at www.sonicdash.nyc
- Registration closes: January 7, 2027 at 11:59 PM ET
- Prompt emailed: Friday, January 8, 2027
- Entries due: noon on Sunday, January 10, 2027
- Finalists’ showcase and winners announced: The following week, New York City
Register: https://www.silver-nyc.com/sonicdashregistration
About the Sonic Dash
Every summer and winter, Silver Sound marks the longest and shortest days of the year by inviting audio makers everywhere to pick up a microphone and make something new. Silver Sound is an Emmy Award-winning audio production company in Manhattan and home of the Silver Podcast Network, whose first release, “Aisha,” won the top audio prize at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.
This is a press release which we link to from Podnews, our daily newsletter about podcasting and on-demand. We may make small edits for editorial reasons.