Curious about our selection process and the support we provide to these creative voices? We've got you covered with a behind-the-scenes look at podcast creation and an inside look at the team that is embarking on this journey.
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The PRX Big Questions Project
Although the application period for The Big Questions Project has ended, we have begun working with selected teams on their projects. Read more below.
PRX, with significant support from the John Templeton Foundation, invites scholars, theologians, and storytellers in the U.S. and Canada to submit ideas and concepts for developing new podcast series that explore big questions. We encourage submissions from individuals and teams who are historically underrepresented in media. We invite applicants at all levels of familiarity with podcasting, including those who are not professionally experienced in content making and podcasting.
PRX will provide finalists editorial, production, and marketing resources to fully develop at least two seasons of their podcast, each 6-8 episodes long. The podcasts produced in PRX's Big Questions Project will provide listeners with a deeper understanding of how abstract issues like spirituality, character, ethics, and humility connect to their daily lives.
What We’re Looking For
We are looking for projects that directly address at least one of the following themes and subject matter (ideas that intersect with more than one theme or topic are encouraged).
The Human Sciences
Explorations of human nature, the study of human flourishing, and fundamental structures and realities within the social, behavioral, and cognitive sciences.
The Natural Sciences
Explorations of the fundamental structures, constituents, and laws of the natural world and humankind’s place in it.
Theology and Philosophy
Explorations of the divine and divinity, religion and spirituality, and intersections between philosophy, science, morality, and social systems.
For more guidance on the appropriate topic matter, please see the following resources: John Templeton Foundation’s 'Big Questions' initiative, John Templeton Foundation's 'Discoveries' white papers, and Science and the Big Questions.
Selected Teams Will Receive
An evaluation panel will select four producers/production teams (2 per team MAX) that PRX will work with to produce a pilot episode of the podcast. Based on the pilot, PRX will work closely with the teams to develop a production contract that includes:
A $35,000 stipend ($17,500 per season) to produce up to two seasons of their show.
Marketing resources to help the new podcast series reach and engage a target audience.
PRX technology and distribution resources, including one year of free access to PRX Dovetail, our publishing, metrics, and dynamic ad inventory management system.
Learning sessions with PRX’s sponsorship, development, and business teams.
Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
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PRX's Big Questions project will put the public in thoughtful discourse with exemplary thinkers focused on humanity's most profound questions. PRX will use an open RFP to identify four untapped voices with the potential to engage a broad audience at the intersection of scientific, philosophical, and spiritual questions. PRX will offer emerging voices professional opportunities to develop, produce, share, and sustain great programming that inspires listeners. For deep thinkers who typically live within the hallowed walls of academia or seminaries, podcasting is uniquely suited to bringing their perspectives to a wider audience.
An evaluation panel will select four producers/production teams (2 per team MAX) that PRX will work with to produce a pilot episode of the podcast. Based on the pilot, PRX will work closely with the teams to develop a production contract that includes:
A $35,000 stipend ($17,500 per season) to produce up to two seasons of their show.
Marketing resources to help the new podcast series reach and engage a target audience.
PRX technology and distribution resources, including one year of free access to Dovetail from PRX, our publishing, metrics, and dynamic ad inventory management system.
Learning sessions with PRX’s sponsorship, development, and business teams.
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The application period ended on Monday, October 31, 2022, at 5 pm ET/2 pm PT. Applications submitted past this date and time will not be considered.
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PRX takes no intellectual property in this process. PRX will ask the teams to sign an agreement that covers crediting and such, but participants own their shows for the purposes of the Big Questions Project.
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Please feel free to send us an email at bigquestions@prx.org.
We are no longer accepting applications for the program.
PRX Welcomes Four Creative Teams to the PRX Big Questions Project,
A Podcast Development Program at the Intersection of Scientific, Philosophical, and Spiritual Life
The PRX Big Questions Project is Supported by the John Templeton Foundation
The aim of the PRX Big Questions Project is to help listeners gain a deeper understanding of how issues such as spirituality, character, ethics, and humility connect to their daily lives. Participants in the program will be guided through the podcast piloting process, working directly with PRX Productions, the award-winning team specializing in high-quality audio production and storytelling. PRX will also work closely with creators to develop a production plan that includes $35,000 in funding to produce up to two seasons of their new podcast, technology and distribution resources, including free access to the Dovetail from PRX publishing platform, mentorship sessions on topics such as sponsorship and development, and marketing resources.
Meet the participants and their projects under development in the PRX Big Questions Project
Anna DeShawn and Esther Ikoro
Chicago, IL
DeShawn and Ikoro will create a new series about spirituality and religion from the perspective of those who have been historically minimized. It’s about finding faith, keeping faith and sometimes losing faith. It’s a second look at a topic that feels increasingly dismissed and minimized.
Anna DeShawn, is a Chicago-born social entrepreneur who builds streaming platforms that center & celebrate BIPOC & QTPOC creatives. Media has always been her passion and in 2009 she turned that passion into a reality when she founded E3 Radio, an online radio station playing Queer music & reporting on Queer news with an intersectional lens. Most recently, she co-founded The Qube, a podcast production company and curated platform to discover the best music & podcasts by BIPOC & QTPOC creatives.
Esther Ikoro, she/her is a comedic writer, producer, and host from the southside of Chicago. Her work focuses primarily on podcasts, web series, and independent films. Her goal is to promote empathy, curiosity, and critical thinking through stories. Esther is also the creator of the “See You Outside’ YouTube channel, highlighting the amazing creatures and phenomena of Earth.
Andrew Gill (Chicago, IL) and Leah Payne (Portland, OR)
Gill and Payne will create a narrative podcast examining how the billion-dollar Christian pop music industry has impacted American culture both subtly and overtly, from the 1960s to today.
Andrew Gill has 18 years of experience working in public radio. He currently serves as the senior producer of the show Sound Opinions, which airs on 150 public radio stations nationwide and previously co-hosted and produced the “Strange Brews” beer podcast for WBEZ.
Leah Payne an associate professor of American religious history at Portland Seminary, Payne is the author of a 2024 book on Contemporary Christian Music on Oxford University Press. Payne’s analysis of religion and pop culture has appeared in “The Washington Post,” NBC News, Religion News Service, and elsewhere. She is also the co-host of the Weird Religion podcast.
Reverend Annanda Barclay (Oakland, CA) & Dr. Keisha McKenzie (Clarksville, MD)
Barclay and McKenzie will develop a podcast exploring our well-being in relationship to technology and automation in today’s Information Age. The show will consider the moral impact of technological advancements and will aim to inspire curiosity in innovation while nurturing human flourishing.
Reverend Annanda Barclay (She/They) As a queer ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church and a Chaplain Fellow at Stanford University, focused on moral distress and injury in STEM , Barclay is also Co-Chair of the religious reparations nonprofit Center for Jubilee Practice.
Dr. Keisha E. McKenzie (She/They) is a technical communicator, strategist, and advocate who applies humanism and systems thinking to questions of well-being, public good, and ecology.
Julia Rose Metzger-Traber (Purcellville, VA) and Natasha Haverty (Dummerston, VT)
Metzger-Traber and Haverty will create a show that addresses the complex and multifaceted topic of motherhood, exploring it through personal interviews, reported stories, and big ideas such as mythology, ecology, psychology, and more. The hosts, both mothers themselves, use their own experiences and relationships with motherhood as a way to view and understand the topic.
Julia Rose Metzger-Traber (she/her) is a conflict transformation practitioner and performance artist.
Natasha Haverty An independent journalist, Haverty’s work on civil rights and justice topics has appeared on NPR, New Hampshire Public Radio, “Reveal” from the Center for Investigative Reporting, the HBO documentary “Who Killed Garrett Phillips?” and in “The New York Times.”
Selection Committee - Submissions for the PRX Big Questions Project were reviewed by accomplished media and podcast professionals, as well as professionals in the humanities, including:
This project was made possible through the support of Grant 62248 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this project are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.