The radio station SER Catalunya has once again launched the IdeaRàdio Awards, an initiative that seeks innovative radio ideas. This year, twenty projects were presented to a professional jury made up of media workers. One of the three selected projects was "Pels pèls", a fiction podcast from UIC Barcelona by four third-year journalism students.
"What would have happened if Donald Trump had been assassinated?" Questions like this are what "Pels pèls" poses, a radio programme that seeks to explore the pages of history that have never been written. "It is not gratuitous fiction: we work from rigorous research, with real sources and interviews with experts to make this alternative scenario credible," explains Eloy Collazos, one of the creators of the podcast. For the student of the Faculty of Communication Sciences, the differential value of their proposal is "the hybrid approach between journalistic documentation and the construction of a parallel reality". According to the student, this allows "opening questions that we often do not ask ourselves".
The first episode, according to the teaser, revolves around the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. "We wonder what would have happened if he had died that day. We explore how the political landscape and global balance would have transformed, focusing on how details can trigger enormous changes," explain the creators of the podcast.
The jury of SER Catalunya highly valued the originality of the idea, the connection with the current affairs of the proposal, and the good staging of the team during the presentation. "We believe it is a project with many possibilities and a balance between fiction and real data," explains Laura Estrada, journalist at SER Catalunya. In addition, the jury especially highlighted the teaser montage presented by the UIC Barcelona students.
From now on, the winners will have two tutors assigned by SER Catalunya to create a pilot episode that will be broadcast on air this summer. "It is a great opportunity to demonstrate what we are capable of and to make our voice heard, as well as to learn about the internal workings of a major media outlet," explains Eloy Collazos. Journalist Laura Estrada recalls that she herself set foot in SER Catalunya ten years ago thanks to these awards, so she encourages the winners to take advantage of this opportunity.
"Pels pèls" was born at the Transmedia Lab of UIC Barcelona as part of a radio subject under the supervision of Professor Kílian Sebrià. Thanks to the creative and entrepreneurial work of the students, their project has now found a showcase to project their professional careers.
