From the Nominator

The Ballot, A Dartmouth Podcast, was produced on a shoestring budget with minimal outside assistance and a “learn as you go” approach that tapped the talents of the Alumni Lifelong Learning team. The Ballot featured leading Dartmouth faculty experts and alumni who explored different themes related to the 2020 presidential election and transition over the course of eight episodes: campaigning, media campaign coverage, race and religion, the economy, the Supreme Court, the science of pandemic response, and political partisanship. This multifaceted approach allowed us to engage listeners with diverse interests and faculty with diverse areas of expertise, all under the unifying banner of the most salient political issue of the time. 

The podcast was hosted by a former dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, and featured a diverse array of faculty and alumni guests, including campaign staffers, media personalities, disease experts, and former and sitting members of Congress. A concerted effort was made to feature young alumni and alumni from diverse backgrounds with dedicated segments in most episodes. 

The Ballot was hosted on an Alumni Relations webpage and on various podcast platforms. During the podcast’s first six months of release, it received approximately 5,200 listens, for an average of approximately 650 listens per episode. These outcomes exceeded our goals while also coming in under budget.

From the Judges

This show drew on the strength of Dartmouth's alumni base to get some fantastic guests like Jake Tapper and Senator Angus King for timely conversations about issues in politics during an election year. The conversations were interesting and relevant to an audience beyond Dartmouth.