Sean Collins has been a Benedictine monk, a network news producer, a community organizer and a cook. He also sold books for awhile. In fact, it was the job in the bookstore that got him interested in radio. He worked at NPR for almost 20 years, producing All Things Consideredand Weekend Edition Saturday. For awhile, he edited The Next Big Thing. Today, he’s the Executive Producer of NPR's Latino USA. Collins sometimes wonders whether he should have stayed in the monastery. But they didn't allow radios, and he's grown fond of the medium.

Jane Farrow is a writer, broadcaster and community organizer. She’s hosted the CBC radio programs Workology, Home, The Omnivore and most recently, And Sometimes Y, a show about words and language. She’s written two volumes of “Wanted Words,” and co-written the “Canadian Book of Lists” (Knopf, 2005). Farrow is the executive director of the Centre for City Ecology and Jane's Walk, a series of free neighborhood strolls held across North America each May honoring the ideas and legacy of urbanist Jane Jacobs.

Leda Hartman has worked as a public radio and print journalist for more than 20 years. She’s currently the assignment editor for the World Vision Report, a nationally broadcast program that focuses on issues of poverty and justice worldwide. She’s also been a contributor to Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Marketplace, Latino USA and Studio 360, among other programs. Hartman has received many national awards, including shared Peabody, Dupont-Columbia and Gracie Awards, and a first-place documentary award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Kara Oehler produces radio with collaborator, Ann Heppermann. The two have received honors from the RTNDA Edward R. Murrow awards, the Peabody Awards, TCIAF and others. Currently, Heppermann and Oehler are producing a new public radio show called Hearing Voices and a series about 1968 for Weekend America. Outside the radio realm, Oehler created an interactive documentary film called “Capitol of Punk” with the public art project, Yellow Arrow, which was included in MOMA’s 2008 exhibition, “Design and the Elastic Mind.”

Paolo Pietropaolo is an award-winning radio producer and sound designer. His 2005 series for CBC Radio, The Wire: the Impact of Electricity on Music, received a Peabody Award, the Prix Italia and the Third Coast Festival Director’s Choice Award. His work has also won the Gold Medal for Editing at the New York Festival’s Radio Awards for three years running. When he’s not playing with audio, Pietropaolo is either playing taiko drums or enjoying the scenery in Vancouver, BC.

Neil Trevithick has produced cultural documentaries for BBC Radio since 1991. He specializes in human interest stories, non-news, ordinary people and no politicians. For three years Trevithick ran the BBC World Service Documentary Bursary Scheme, working with producers in their home countries to make their “documentary of a lifetime.” His next project takes place in Indonesia, where he’ll be working with the ABC to produce four documentaries about that country in the lead up to elections next year.

Daniel Zwerdling's investigative reports on NPR have repeatedly attracted national attention and generated national action. They've won the most prestigious awards in broadcasting, including the DuPont, Peabody, Edward R. Murrow, and Overseas Press Club awards. Zwerdling's workshops for reporters and producers are among the most popular in public radio. PRNDI, the association of public radio news directors, gave him the Leo C. Lee Award, which honors those "who exemplify the ideal, spirit, and passion of the profession."

Elizabeth Branch Dyson graduated from Yale University with a degree in English and music. She taught middle-school English for three years in Cambridge, MA, before moving to the University of Chicago Press, where she acquires books in education, philosophy, and ethnomusicology.

Alison Cuddy co-hosts Chicago Public Radio’s daily newsmagazine program Eight Forty-Eight, which covers arts, culture and politics in the Chicago region. She’s also the senior producer of Chicago Matters, an annual multi-media series examining topics of interest in the region. Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Cuddy joined Chicago Public Radio in 2001 as a producer for the nationally-syndicated talk program Odyssey. She holds an M.A. in English from the University of Pittsburgh and a B.F.A. in Cinema Studies from Concordia University in Montreal.

Sarah Levine leads Curie Youth Radio, a writing and radio production class at Curie High School on the Southwest Side of Chicago. Curie Youth Radio's stories are broadcast on Chicago Public Radio, other local stations throughout the United States, and NPR's All Things Considered.

Daniel Makagon is an associate professor in the College of Communication at DePaul University. He specializes in urban communication, cultural studies, ethnography, documentary and the study of community. Makagon is the author of “Where the Ball Drops: Days and Nights in Times Square” (University of Minnesota Press, 2004) and co-author with Mark Neumann of “Recording Culture: Audio Documentary and the Ethnographic Experience” (Sage, 2008). His audio documentaries have been broadcast on public radio and posted on DocumentaryWorks.org.

Michael Rabiger worked on more than 30 feature and documentary films in the UK before migrating to the United States in 1972. He then started work at Columbia College in Chicago, first as faculty then as chair of the Film & Video Department. He’s author of “Directing the Documentary” (in 10 languages), “Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics, and Developing Story Ideas,” and has given documentary workshops in 20 countries. Rabiger founded the Michael Rabiger Center for Documentary in 1988. He’s currently professor emeritus at Columbia College, and writes about the documentary medium full-time.

Fred Sasaki is an editor at Poetry and Stop Smiling, conspirator for the Dil Pickle Club, and writer living in Chicago. He also organizes the Printers' Ball: An Annual Celebration of Print.

Dawn Turner Trice is a metro columnist for the Chicago Tribune and moderator for the Tribune's new online project, Exploring Race. A regular commentator for WTTW's Chicago Tonight show, her commentary also has appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition program. Trice has written two novels: “Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven” (Random House, 1997), which is being made into a movie, and “An Eighth of August” (Random House, 2000). She’s the recipient of the Studs Terkel Media award, two Illinois Arts Council awards and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship.

RADIO IMPACT JUDGES

Catrin Einhorn is a reporter and audio producer in Chicago. Currently, she writes stories and produces audio for the New York Times. Previously, Einhorn worked as a Chicago Public Radio reporter, covering urban affairs and immigration. She’s the recipient of numerous awards, includinga PRNDI award and two Edward R. Murrow awards.

Jamie Kalven is a writer and human rights activist. He’s the author of “Working with Available Light: A Family's World After Violence” and editor of “A Worthy Tradition: Free Speech in America,” by Harry Kalven, Jr. He’s reported widely on public housing and police accountability issues. Kalven serves as advisor to the resident councils at the Stateway Gardens and Henry Horner public housing developments. Currently, he’s working to create a base for independent investigative reporting in Chicago.