It’s the time of year again for Met Radio’s 24 Hour Radio Challenge!
From February 28th at 10:00 AM, join us for 24 straight hours of radio making fun. Whether you’re an audio veteran wanting to flex your skills, you’re looking for your chance to try radio out for the first time, or anywhere in between, this is for you!
This year’s challenge runs from February 28th to March 1st!
At 10:00 AM on Saturday, February 28th, we’ll release this year’s secret theme. From there, you have until 10:00 AM on March 1st to write, record, and edit an original radio production!
Want to make a short piece of nonfiction? An investigation of an idea in audio? An all-new radio drama? Go for it! As long as it incorporates the theme and is between 3 and 6 minutes, your radio piece can be whatever you want!
You can join solo or in a group of up to four people, and it’s open to anyone in Canada! To sign up, head to this form (https://airtable.com/appv8D1XwAxYfPQwE/shrxHP1XUZugmoOiI)
Check out the final pieces!
This year, Long & McQuade is providing a $150 dollar prize package to the winning team!
Meet Our Judges
Justin Chandler
Justin Chandler is a CBC News reporter in Hamilton. He has a special interest in how public policy affects people, and loves a quirky human-interest story. Justin covered current affairs in Hamilton and Niagara for TVO between 2020 and 2023. Before that, he worked on a variety of CBC teams and programs, including As It Happens, Day 6 and CBC Music. He co-hosted Radio Free Krypton on Met Radio from 2016 to 2022.
Mary Hynes
For 20 years, Mary Hynes was the host of Tapestry, CBC Radio’s weekly investigation into what it means to be human through the lenses of psychology, philosophy, religion, and spirituality. She’s covered an eclectic range of stories in news and sports, in a career spanning newspapers, television, wires services and radio. Hynes has reported from 23 countries, and covered three Olympic Games. She is the former host of CBC Radio’s The Inside Track, and TVO’s Imprint, and is a former co-host of Studio 2 at TVO. Hynes also spent several years as a sports reporter at The Globe and Mail, where her assignments included the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, and the subsequent Dubin Inquiry into drug use in sports. In the spring of 2025, Hynes received an honorary doctorate from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Shari Okeke
Shari Okeke is an award-winning journalist, podcast creator and educator with more than 25 years of industry experience, primarily at CBC. She created the Peabody-nominated CBC podcast Mic Drop, featuring teens and preteens sharing their stories in their own words. She is a story editor for Turner Classic Movies’ (TCM) podcast The Plot Thickens Season 4: Here Comes Pam, which explores the career of Blaxploitation superstar Pam Grier, America’s first female action hero. At Toronto Metropolitan University since 2022, she created the podcast We Met U When…and with students, has produced four seasons, available on listening apps. This podcast has been recognized nationally by the Canadian Online Publishing Awards, the Canadian Association of Journalists’ student awards, The Canadian Student Journalism Awards from J-Schools Canada, and internationally by the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Media of Festival Arts in 2025 and 2026. Shari Okeke also received the 2025 Dean’s Teaching Award.