💥 Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios and Wondery Announce New Docuseries The Competition

🚀 Advertise with our newsletter to get in front of Podcasters and Podcast Producers

Today, Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios and Wondery announce a new six-part docuseries, The Competition, a follow-doc from veteran podcast host and producer Shima Oliaee (Dolly Parton’s America, Pink Card) that explores the dreams of young women, America’s promise, and what it takes to survive being a teen girl today. The Competition debuts exclusively on Wondery+ and Amazon Music on April 15, and will be available everywhere podcasts are available starting April 29.

Every summer for the past seven decades, 50 high school seniors—one from every state—descend on Mobile, Alabama to take part in one of the country’s most lucrative scholarship competitions for teen girls. The Competition takes listeners behind the scenes of the Distinguished Young Women (DYW) program, and follows seven girls as they experience the highs and lows of competing for two weeks, away from home and under the most high-stress circumstances. Some girls enter for the money, some for prestige. All of them are used to being the best and the brightest, but only one will walk away with the top prize. The series asks, what can two weeks with 50 of the country’s most ambitious teens tell us about girlhood in America?

Host Shima Oliaee was Nevada’s contestant in 2001, and more than 20 years later, she returns to Alabama as a judge. While documenting her new role in the competition, Shima’s producers were fully embedded with the girls on-the-ground on the other side, recording everything that went down, from the silliest to most vulnerable moments. After the competition Shima traveled across the country, interviewing the competitors over the following year—unpacking just what happened those two weeks in Mobile.

Oliaee is the founder of Shirazad Productions. Before creating The Competition, she was the executive producer and creator of Pink Card for ESPN 30 for 30, a series that follows three generations of Iranian women who risk their lives for the simple right to watch a soccer game. She received a Murrow Award, a National Headliner Award, two Gracies, and honors from the Overseas Press Club. She co-created, produced, and reported Dolly Parton’s America, winning a Peabody and several national honors, and her documentary The Flag and the Fury won a duPont-Columbia Award and Best in Show at the National Headliner Awards. As an independent producer, she also created The Vanishing of Harry Pace and UnErased. The Competition is the second series in a trilogy from her company about surviving as a woman in the world. Before working in audio, Oliaee worked in comedy television, including on the Golden Globe-winning Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

The Competition is a Wondery and Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios production, marking their fifth collaboration following 9/12, Will Be Wild, Persona, and Ghost Story.     

About Wondery

Wondery, an Amazon company, is a podcast studio known for character-driven, binge-worthy stories including Dr. Death, British Scandal, Even the Rich, and Business Wars, and distribution of hit partner shows SmartLess, Morbid, and How I Built This. Wondery was behind six of the “Top 25 New Shows of 2023”, according to Podtrac, including Ghost Story, Exposed, and Stolen Hearts. Over 55 shows from Wondery have hit No. 1 on Apple Podcasts, including Scamfluencers and Stolen Hearts. Many Wondery podcasts have been adapted for scripted television or streaming series, including Dr. Death and Joe vs Carole on Peacock and The Shrink Next Door and WeCrashed on Apple TV+. Wondery has gained critical acclaim and commercial success for its immersive approach to sonic, emotionally driven storytelling. The Wondery app offers a unique, personalized podcast listening experience, including access to its premium ad-free offering Wondery+. With Wondery+, fans experience early access, exclusive episodes, and ad-free listening.

About Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios:

Founded in Brooklyn in 2016 by Jenna Weiss-Berman and Max Linsky, Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios paved the way for in-depth, diverse storytelling by way of high-quality original and partner podcasts. Pineapple Street Studios creates inventive, award-winning original podcasts: multi-episode narratives, investigative journalism, branded series, and talk shows that routinely debut in the top ten on the Apple Podcasts charts, reach tens of millions of listeners, and have been cited repeatedly on “best of” lists. Pineapple Street is behind some of the most critically acclaimed shows, including “9/12,” “Will Be Wild,” “Magnificent Jerk,” “Ghost Story,” “70 Over 70,” “Classy with Jonathan Menjivar,” Patrick Radden Keefe’s “Wind of Change,” “Welcome to Your Fantasy,” “Missing Richard Simmons,” “Back Issue,” The New York Times’ “Still Processing,” activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham’s “Undistracted,” and “The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow.”

Send press releases to [email protected]. Editorially, we may rewrite headlines and descriptions. Visit podworks.io to post your upcoming events or job openings for free.

👀 Employing? or trying to find a new job?

Do you need to hire for your podcast? Here's where you can post a job (for free). Come hang out with us at podworks.io if you are a professional podcast producer!