From Our Staff | May 30, 2007

Now that Memorial Day has come and gone, we at The Missouri Review can settle down to our summer¹s work‹reading manuscripts, of course, and continuing to get the word out about our Audio Competition. It was heartening to see comments from dberner (an audio producer and faculty member at Columbia College Chicago) about the competition:

I applaud The Missouri Review for its forward thinking on the audio competition. This genre, style, is growing and I see a place for it in the art community. I hope to offer a Radio Essay class that will encourage our students in the Fiction Writing program at Columbia involved in audio. I believe there is some strong interest. I would encourage more discussion about the idea of audio essays from writing students, professors, and from broadcast students and professors from everywhere. I believe there are great audio moments yet to be produced and shared.

Bring on the Audio Forum!

And that’s just what we’re going to do. Our web editor Patrick Lane has set up the forum on our discussion board. If you have questions about production or the art of the audio piece, post a comment.

Those with knowledge about the process can share their insights. And we’ll find the experts who can help you get started.

As you can imagine, it’s never easy (or comfortable) to break new ground. It’s a role we’re used to, and, as you can imagine, we have much at stake. Unlike our editors’ prize contest, the ‘entry’ may not yet exist. For example, someone wanting to enter the 10-minute Play category will need to assemble a cast as well as recording equipment. Likewise, a poet or prose writer entering the Voice-only Literature category will need to record her work using a program like GarageBand. This takes some time. The more experienced audio producers may well have work in hand, looking perhaps just to tweak it a bit. In any case, if you’ve thought about entering the Audio Competition, please let me know — it will be a tremendous help in our planning efforts. Or if there’s something stopping you, let me know that as well. Email me other comments too. If they’re appropriate, I’ll move them into the newly formed Audio Forum.

You can find the audio forum here.

–Richard